We recently did a deep dive into the value that mortgage rate comparison delivers to homebuyers. Anyone listening to experts in the house hunting process will hear that they should evaluate several mortgage options. People at trusted sources — from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the National Association of Realtors — tell consumers to compare rates in an effort to save themselves some money.

If you’re a mortgage lender, that means it’s time to get live rates on your website. 

The opportunity — and issue — with providing real-time rates

As a mortgage lender, homebuyers’ curiosity about the current rate environment provides you with a prime opportunity. Since savvy home shoppers want to evaluate mortgage rates, providing them with that information positions you as a helpful and knowledgeable financial institution. 

Sure, you might be thinking, that’s great in theory. But actually installing a feature that shows rates would probably be a herculean lift, and keeping it continually updated would be another story altogether. That’s why many mortgage lenders skip this potential lead generation opportunity. Right? Wrong.

That’s where we come in. Our team at BankingBridge develops tools to help mortgage lenders succeed in 2024 and beyond. And that includes features that make it easy to install mortgage rates on your site — and keep them automatically updated.  

Installing rate tables on mortgage lending websites

Whether you put it on your home page or give it its own dedicated landing page, a table showcasing today’s rates gives people a solid starting point to understand their borrowing options. 

Offering current average rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages is a key baseline, but the most effective rate tables also feature current rates for other loans your mortgage lending institution offers, like 15-year fixed-rate loans, adjustable-rate mortgages, jumbo loans, etc. 

Plus, your rate table can include a search feature, allowing website visitors to sort rates by loan type, term, and more. This customized search option also provides an area to input a zip code, letting your team provide location-based information — without requiring any time or energy on their part.

Combining the rate table with customized search puts potential leads firmly in the driver’s seat, giving them control as they explore their options. 

Beyond that, your rate table can feature a call-to-action button (e.g., “personalize my loan”) to generate leads. Clicking the button allows website visitors to provide some additional details — like the home’s purchase price and, most importantly, their contact information — in exchange for a personalized rate quote. 

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All of this might sound like a lot of work to develop, but we’ve already done it for you. BankingBridge rates tables can get easily installed on your website, then pull in information from whichever mortgage product pricing engine (PPE) you use. Installing this feature can be as easy as copy-pasting a snippet of code. Plus, our team can help you with the install if you’re not overly familiar with the backend of your site. 

To get a better feel for how that mortgage rate table could function on your mortgage lending website, we have a live example for you here. 

Engaging mortgage leads with custom mortgage rates

A mortgage rate table isn’t the only way lending institutions can empower people with the information they want — and convert them into leads. You can take things a step further with customer rate dashboards.

Tailoring rate options to the borrower’s lending experience empowers them. By giving leads the power to price their own mortgage, you let them explore multiple loan scenarios without creating that work for your loan officers.

That doesn’t mean you miss out on engagement, either. With tracking features built into these custom rate dashboards, you can see how leads engage with loan scenarios. This way, your loan officers can direct their effort toward the individuals who are putting the most time and energy into hunting for the right mortgage. 

As with our rate dashboard, we’ve already developed the code for the widget you need to add custom mortgage rates dashboards to your site. It’s a low-lift way to add a personalized touch for every visitor who’s willing to spend a few minutes engaging with your site. 

Installing rates — and keeping them updated — the easy way

These features might sound appealing, but any mortgage expert worth their salt knows that they’re only useful if they feature updated rates. In the same way that we’ve put in the work to develop rate tables and dashboard you can easily deploy, we’ve already developed the integrations you need to keep rates updated the easy way: automatically. 

Our BankingBridge tools leverage an application programming interface (API) to pull in data from your PPE and feed it directly onto your website’s rate features. We’ve developed APIs to keep rates automatically updated from all of the following mortgage product pricing engines:

• Optimal Blue
• Mortech
• Loansifter 
• Polly
• Lender Price

And we continually manage those APIs so there’s no work for your mortgage lending institution to keep them functional.

If you’ve thought about installing live rates on your lending institution’s website, now is the time because it’s never been easier. To see how it could work for your specific site based on the PPE you use, book a demo with our team today.