When looking for a mortgage it is very important to keep ones mortgage deal, including credit profile, in good shape. One should also know what lending organizations expect from the borrower. Now lets look into what the borrower expects from the lender. This factor is also an important one, as a loan on a mortgage is a process of mutual benefit, to the borrower and the lender.

Today, the mortgage industry functions in a highly competitive environment like other industries. This opens up a lot of opportunities for the borrower to shop around and identify the most suitable lender. When doing so, the first few questions that spring to the borrowers mind are Is this mortgage plan affordable?, If so, how affordable is it going to be? and so forth.

The most powerful factor that makes any particular mortgage loan affordable or not is the Mortgage Rate. The Mortgage Rate largely depends upon the interest accrued on the loan obtained by mortgaging. The Mortgage Rate is expressed as Annual Percentage Rate [APR]. APR is the total amount of money repayable by the borrower to the lender on a loan, per annum. Though APR is expressed as a percentage of the loan amount that is borrowed, unlike interest rates, it includes additional fees. That is, APR means the interest fees on the principal plus additional fees. The Federal `Truth in Lending Act makes it obligatory to all players in the mortgage industry to disclose the APR in all loan agreements.

We can have a concrete idea of how APR is used, by looking at the data provided by www.bankofamerica.com, the official web site of Bank of America. Its APR values for Home Equity Mortgages, at 06:15 am PST as on December 8, were: 6.335, 5.951, 7.164, 6.665 and 6.589 for 30 years fixed, 15 years fixed, 1 year ARM, 5 years ARM and 7 years ARM. Borrowers use APR as a basis to compare costs of loans or Mortgage Rates. Then they select the most appropriate loan.