Mellody's Mail: Best Mortgage Rates

— -- Q U E S T I O N: On Good Morning America recently you gave advice for finding competitive mortgage rates. Could you suggest different Web sites to check for information?

A N S W E R: I have received a number of e-mails from viewers about this Good Morning America segment. With interest rates on the rise, I thought I would recap some of the more unique opportunities available to consumers seeking new mortgages or refinancing.

E*TRADE (www.etrade.com)

For a limited time only, E*TRADE Financial is offering a portable mortgage product known as "Mortgage on the Move" for loan amounts between $60,000 and $1,000,000. Traditional mortgages require homeowners to take out a new mortgage with every new purchase, meaning you have to re-qualify and renegotiate for a new rate. With "Mortgage on the Move," you can lock in a rate on a home loan today and then transfer the rate to your next home purchase in the future.

You may be eligible for a portable mortgage if you are purchasing a primary residence (vacation homes are not eligible); have had no late mortgage payments in the past 12 months; and have had no foreclosures in your recent credit history. Unfortunately, for those looking to refinance with this product, you are out of luck as it is not available to refinanced loans — only new real estate purchases.

E-Loan (www.eloan.com)E-Loan processes and underwrites loan applications in-house, allowing the consumer to apply online for pre-approval of a mortgage loan and get a rate along with approximate closing costs. One of E-Loan's strongest selling points is it does not charge any "junk fees" (i.e., costs associated with credit reports, document processing, origination, etc.), potentially saving the consumer up to $1,500. An additional benefit of E-Loan is that it offers a low-cost guarantee in which it will match an overall loan package (which includes rate, points, closing costs, etc.) from an outside lender or give you $500.

LendingTree (www.lendingtree.com)LendingTree is an online lending exchange and offers access to loans across multiple categories, including home mortgages, home equity, cars, personal, credit cards and debt consolidation. If you apply for a home loan with LendingTree, it attempts to send your request to four lenders (at no cost to you) to offer you the most competitive rates, alleviating the amount of actual legwork you would have to do on your own. Although you may not always get offers from four different lenders, each lender always works under the assumption that it is competing against three other lenders, so it will try to make you a competitive offer to get your business.

Charles Schwab Bank (www.schwab.com) Charles Schwab Bank guarantees it will beat any lender's total price by $100 or give the customer $500 if the customer closes with another lender. In addition to guaranteeing to beat other lenders' rates, it pledges to approve a loan decision within 24 hours or pay the customer $250. Charles Schwab Bank also commits to meeting the agreed-upon closing date, or it will reduce the homebuyer's interest rate by 0.125 percent for the life of the loan.