If you’ve been driving lately, you’ve noticed that the cost of a fill-up has gone down.

According to GasBuddy.com, retail gas now costs $2.52 per gallon, on average nationwide.  Since peaking in mid-June, gas prices are down 6 percent.

For the economy, this is an important story.

Because Americans are spending less at the gas pump, they’re left with additional dollars to spend in other ways including for everyday items like food and shelter, plus for luxury items, too.

Consumer spending accounts for a huge part of the U.S. economy and falling gas prices give economists one more reason to believe a full economic recovery may be close.

With Back to School season around the corner and the holidays looming, a mini Wealth Effect could propel the economy forward and out of recession.

Falling gas prices can be good for mortgage rates, too.

Because rising gas prices are associated with inflation and inflation is linked to rising mortgage rates, the opposite is often true, too.  When inflation pressures recede, mortgage rates tend to fall.  And that’s what we’re seeing in today’s market.

As gas prices have fallen, mortgage rates have, too.  As a result, home affordability is up.

(Image Courtesy: Department of Energy)

Mortgage markets improved last week on fresh concerns about the U.S. economy.With data showing neither overt strength nor weakness, and with earnings season about to start, traders got defensive with their money and parked it in bonds.

As a result, mortgage rates fell in mixed trading last week.  It’s the third consecutive week in which rates fell.

This week, rates should be in flux with traders watching 3 things.

The first is the aforementioned Earnings Season reports.

Big Banks JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup report quarterly earnings this week.  If balance sheets look healthy and markets are encouraged by the results, it could spark a stock market surge, similar to last quarter.  This would be bad for mortgage rates.

The second item markets will be watching is economic data.  In addition to inflation-related data like the Consumer Price Index, markets are watching for Tuesday’s Retail Sales report.

Retail sales are a key economic indicator because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy.  If the data is weak, mortgage rates should benefit.

And, lastly, markets are awaiting the Wednesday release of last month’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes.

The minutes will give a behind-the-scenes look at the conversation and debate surrounding the Fed’s decision to hold the Fed Funds Rate near 0.000 percent and not purchase additional treasury securities on the open market.

Mortgage rates remain volatile.  Therefore, if you’re actively shopping for a mortgage rate, consider that mortgage rates have been falling for the past 3 weeks and may be due for a reversal.  All it would take for that to happen is for this week’s economic data to show just a little bit of strength.

We could expect traders to pile back into stocks and mortgage rates to suffer.

Sometimes, saving money on your mortgage is as simple as picking a better closing date.It’s all about Rate Lock Commitments.

A Rate Lock Commitment is a bank’s promise to honor a specific mortgage rate for a specific period of time.  They are a lender’s prediction of what mortgage markets will look like at some point in the future.

The future is murky, of course, so it follows that the longer the rate lock, the higher the bank’s corresponding interest rate.

Banks have to compensate for “time risk”.

Rate locks typically come in 15-day increments with the 30-day lock serving as the basis for all other pricing:

• 15-day rate lock : 1/8 percent lower than the 30-day rate lock
• 30-day rate lock : The basis for all other pricing
• 45-day rate lock : 1/8 percent higher than the 30-day rate lock
• 60-day rate lock : 1/4 percent higher than the 30-day rate lock

These aren’t exact figures, of course.  Spreads between rates can (and do) vary from lender-to-lender.  On average, though, they’re fairly close.

This is why choosing a closing date is so important to your mortgage rate. A 45-day closing may reduce your rate 0.125% versus a 46-day one.

Assuming a $250,000 home loan near today’s rates, that’s an annual difference of $236.

So, when negotiating a contract on a home, keep in mind how rate locks work to make sure you get the best rate possible. The shorter the length of your rate lock commitment, the more money you might save long-term.

For the first time in nearly six months, Fannie Mae is imposing strict, new guidelines on American homeowners.This time, the hardest hit demographic is owners of 2-unit homes.

In its official announcement, Fannie Mae listed the following changes to its 2-unit financing programs, separated by occupancy type.

Primary Residence

• Purchase: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 80%; FICO minimums reset to 640.
• Rate-and-Term Refinance: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 80%; FICO minimums reset to 640.
• Cash Out Refinance: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 75%; FICO minimums reset to 680.

Investment Property

• Purchase: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 75%; FICO minimums reset to 660.
• Rate-and-Term Refinance: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 75%; FICO minimums reset to 660.
• Cash Out Refinance: Maximum loan-to-value drops to 70%; FICO minimums reset to 680.

With Fannie Mae’s new loan-to-value limits falling by as much as 15 percent, it’s a certainty that fewer 2-unit homeowners will be approved in the mortgage process.  This could slow both purchase and refinance activity in the coming months.

The good news, though, is that while Fannie Mae recommends that lenders institute the new policy immediately, September 1, 2009, is the “effective date”.

Therefore, if you plan to buy a 2-unit home, or if you own one and know you’ll need to refinance it soon, it may be a good idea to move up your timeframe.

Lenders could implement the new guidelines at any time and usually do so without warning.

Last week’s jobs report is the latest data point to drag down rates for today’s home buyers and would-be refinancers.As reported by the government, the national Unemployment Rate rose to 9.5 percent in June — a 25-year high.

As the percentage of out-of-work Americans grows, households have less disposable income to pump back into the economy.

And so, because consumer spending accounts for two-third of the economy, the growing ranks of the unemployed are forcing markets to change expectations about when the U.S. economy will reach its full recovery.

Inflation is the enemy of mortgage rates.  The perceived absence of inflation, therefore, can be its friend.

With fewer working Americans, we can expect slower economic growth plus a smaller probability for inflation over the medium-term. This is why mortgage rates are lower of late, off by as much as a half-percent from the peak.

Mortgage markets were relatively calm throughout last week’s holiday-shortened trading sessions.After trading within a tight range between Monday and Wednesday, a weak jobs report helped edge rates lower into the weekend.

For the second week in a row, mortgage rates ended the week lower than where they started – if only slightly.

Meanwhile, if it’s the expectation of runaway economic growth that fueled the early-June, mortgage rate run-up past 6 percent, it’s the tempering of those expectations that helped rates retreat by a 1/2 percent or more since.

While the housing sector continues to post strong numbers, employment is showing that it may not rebound as quickly as previously thought and U.S. consumer confidence remains shaken.

The Unemployment Rate rose to its highest levels in 25 years last month and key confidence levels fell.

With negative job growth and falling consumer optimism, it only makes sense that mortgage rates would fall — fewer people are working and the public feels uneasy about spending its money.

This week — without much new data due — market momentum could push rates even lower.  In general, perceived weakness in the economy will be good for mortgage rates and strength will be bad.

However, there’s a wildcard.

This week, some of the world’s largest nations are expected to call on a replacement for the U.S. dollar as a global currency reserve.  Depending on how serious the discussion grows, the value of the U.S. dollar could be negatively impacted and that would spell bad news for rate shoppers.

A weakening U.S. dollar is linked to higher mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates remain favorable and unpredictable.  If today’s rates make sense for your household budget, consider locking in.  Rates won’t likely end the week at the same levels at which they started.

At the start of the year, the “experts” made a lot of predictions about the U.S. economy and what to expect in 2009.

• Some said housing would rise
• Some said housing would fall
• Some said mortgage rates would rise
• Some said mortgage rates would fall

And nobody predicted just how big the government’s stimulus package would be.

Now, on June 30, with the year officially half-over, it’s as good a time as any to remember that people are much better at interpreting the past than predicting the future.  Economists can make educated guesses about the future, but they’re guesses nonetheless.

It’s like watching the Weather Channel.  A meteorologist can look at the data and say it’s going to rain next week, but the forecast is never 100%.

So far this year, mortgage rates have been up and down, credit availability has been higher and lower, and home prices have varied immensely from neighborhood to neighborhood.  These are not the types of predictions we get from the pundits.

There’s another 6 months until 2010 and there’s no reason to expect the current trends to change.

The world is unpredictable and so is the U.S. economy.  Therefore, consider making your personal finance decisions based on the information at hand today instead of on an educated guess about the future.

After all, the weatherman’s been wrong before.

Mortgage markets improved last week on the heels of benign economic data and a non-inspired press release from the Federal Reserve.Aside from trader momentum, 3 market-moving events helped set the pace last week:

1. Housing data hinted at strength
2. Jobless data showed softness
3. The Fed said growth appears on-track

The combination of the three created volatility that — for just the second time in the last 8 weeks — worked in favor of rate shoppers.

Mortgage rates changed a lot last week, but they trended lower overall.

Already, however, markets are looking ahead to this week’s holiday-shortened trading sessions.  There is a ton of data to be released and as the week progresses, the ever-falling market volume could create some wide swings in mortgage rates.

The mystery is whether rates will be getting better or worse.

On Tuesday, markets will get Consumer Confidence and Case-Shiller Index data at 9:00 AM ET.  The Case-Shiller Index is a home price measurement and it always gets a lot of press.  Strength in either number should lead mortgage rates higher.  Weakness should help rates ease.

Then, on Wednesday, Crude Inventories should take the spotlight. Normally, we don’t watch this data point too closely but with gas prices easing last week, rising oil supplies could mean even lower gas prices ahead.  This is anti-inflation and a good sign for mortgage rates.

And lastly, on Thursday, the government releases June’s jobs report.  This report is always a market-mover — good or bad.  And with trading volume low by Thursday, mortgage rates should move more than “normal”.

Be ready to lock at a moment’s notice this week.  Mortgage rates continue to be volatile and the holiday-shortened week won’t do anything to counter that.  If you’re the nervous type, when you see a rate that fits your budget, consider locking it in.

The Federal Reserve begins its scheduled two-day meeting this morning.
It’s one of 8 scheduled meetings for the Federal Open Market Committee this year.

When the FOMC meets, it discusses the financial and economic conditions around the country and, when appropriate, the group makes new policy meant to speed up or slow down the economy.

The main tool for reaching this goal is the Fed Funds Rate and, earlier this year, the FOMC lowered it to “near-zero” percent in an attempt to stimulate growth.

But the Fed has other tools at its disposal, too, not the least of which is its $1.25 trillion pledge to the mortgage markets.

Now, if you’ll remember, the Fed made that pledge in two parts:

• Part 1 came in November 2008 for $500 billion
• Part 2 came in March 2008 for $750 billion

After each announcement, mortgage rates reflexively dropped and stayed low for a period of a day or two.  Then, fears of inflation set in on Wall Street, causing mortgage rates to pop back up because inflation is a mortgage-rate killer.

The Fed isn’t expected to increase its mortgage market commitment this week, but because mortgage rates are above the government’s “target zone”, it’s possible that the FOMC uses its post-meeting press release to give markets some guidance and its plan for the next several months.

A statement like this could alternately raise mortgage rates or lower them, depending on what the Fed says.

It’s for this reason that floating a mortgage rate through tomorrow afternoon is extremely risky.  The Fed could say nothing about mortgages, or it could say a lot.  Either way, a small, quarter-percent change in mortgage rates can add tens of thousands of dollars to the lifetime cost of a person’s pending home loan.

The Fed’s press release hits the wires at 2:15 PM ET Wednesday.  If you’re the cautious type, consider locking your mortgage rate prior to its release.

Mortgage markets finished out the week unchanged last week but that’s not to say that mortgage rates stayed flat.
From day-to-day, mortgage rate shoppers were on a veritable roller coaster.

• Monday and Tuesday, rates dipped
• Wednesday and Thursday, rates surged
• Friday, rates retreated

Overall, conforming mortgage rates carved out a half-percent range this week.  This caused fit for home buyers in need of a rate lock, and homeowners interested in refinancing.

Rates changed quite a bit from day-to-day, and even from hour-to-hour at times.

This is the same brand of mortgage rate volatility we’ve seen all year and it’s expected to continue through at least this week, too.  There are a number of market-moving events set to hit.

The event with the largest potential impact is the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day meeting.

Scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Bernanke-led Fed is not expected to raise the Fed Funds Rate upon its adjournment but the markets are more interested in what the Fed says than what it actually does.

If the Federal Reserve says that long-term inflation is a concern, mortgage rates should rise because inflation often leads rates higher.  Similarly, if the Fed says the economy is recovering quicker than expected, mortgage rates should rise on that story.

The Fed adjourns at 2:15 PM Wednesday so watch for big market swings around that time.

In addition, there’s some big data points due out this week including the Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales reports, plus the Personal Spending and Consumer Sentiment survey.

Each of these reveals the psychology of the U.S. consumer and consumers with dollars to spend move the economy forward.  If the reports are overwhelmingly positive, mortgage rates should rise as a result.  On the other hand, if the data is weak or non-convincing, mortgage rates should ease.