Today’s 15-year fixed mortgage rates start at % (% APR) for a conventional mortgage, according to our daily rate survey.
15-year mortgage rates are usually lower than 30-year fixed rates, but the spread can change daily. And the cheapest lender will vary from one borrower to the next.
Compare options to see which lender can offer you the best rate based on your credit score, down payment, and other factors.
Check your 15-year mortgage rates15-year mortgage rates for December 24, 2024
| Program | Mortgage Rate | APR* | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional 15-year fixed | |||
| Conventional 15-year fixed | 6.195% | 6.274% | +0.05 |
| Rates are provided by our partner network, and may not reflect the market. Your rate might be different. Click here for a personalized rate quote. See our rate assumptions See our rate assumptions here. | |||
About 15-year fixed mortgage rates
15-year fixed mortgage rates are often significantly lower than those for 30-year fixed-rate loans.
Better yet, the total amount of interest you pay will be much, much lower because you’re borrowing the same sum for half the period. And interest is only due for the time you owe money.
So why doesn’t everyone choose the 15-year option? Because each mortgage payment is a lot higher.
Higher monthly payments are inevitable because you’re repaying the entire loan amount in 180 installments (12 months x 15 years) instead of 360 (12 months x 30 years).
Many borrowers — especially first-time home buyers — simply can’t afford those higher payments, no matter how much it saves them in the end.
But if you have plenty of monthly cash flow, this might be the right loan type for you.
Verify your 15-year mortgage eligibilityTypes of 15-year mortgage rates
If you want to save on interest, and you can afford the higher monthly payments, here are some of your options to lock in current 15-year mortgage rates:
- 15-year refinance — Refinancing from a 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage can lower your interest rate even further and help you pay off your home sooner
- Conventional 15-year rates — Lower rates than 30-year conventional loans and much lower total interest payments. If you have a 20% down payment (or 20% equity when refinancing) you can avoid private mortgage insurance (PMI)
- VA 15-year rates — Often the lowest interest rates of all. But you must be VA loan-eligible: a veteran, still serving in the military, or a member of select associated groups
- FHA 15-year rates — 15-year FHA rates are low, but watch out for mortgage insurance premiums that typically last the life of the loan. This added cost could make your APR (annual percentage rate) higher than other loan types
- 15-year jumbo loan rates — Jumbo loan rates, including 15-year jumbo loans, can be very competitive. But you’ll want to shop around carefully because these loans are not backed by any agency and rates can vary a lot from one lender to the next
We can only generalize about the 15-year mortgage rates you’re likely to be offered. To be sure of what you’re in line for, you’ll need to request personalized quotes from multiple lenders.
Check your 15-year mortgage ratesSee how 15-year fixed mortgage rates compare
| Program | Mortgage Rate | APR* | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional 30-year fixed | |||
| Conventional 30-year fixed | 6.928% | 6.978% | +0.04 |
| Conventional 20-year fixed | |||
| Conventional 20-year fixed | 6.803% | 6.86% | +0.15 |
| Conventional 15-year fixed | |||
| Conventional 15-year fixed | 6.195% | 6.274% | +0.05 |
| Conventional 10-year fixed | |||
| Conventional 10-year fixed | 6.076% | 6.149% | +0.05 |
| 30-year fixed FHA | |||
| 30-year fixed FHA | 6.886% | 6.931% | +0.02 |
| 30-year fixed VA | |||
| 30-year fixed VA | 6.748% | 6.792% | +0.1 |
| 5/1 ARM Conventional | |||
| 5/1 ARM Conventional | 6.45% | 7.115% | -0.03 |
| Rates are provided by our partner network, and may not reflect the market. Your rate might be different. Click here for a personalized rate quote. See our rate assumptions See our rate assumptions here. | |||
15-year refinance rates
Suppose you bought your first home 15 years ago, when you were 30 years old.
If you refinance to a new 30-year loan now, you’ll still be making mortgage payments when you’re 75 — and you’ll be paying interest a lot longer.
One alternative is to refinance your existing 30-year mortgage to a 15-year home loan. This could help you pay off your house on the same schedule (or sooner) and save money on interest payments.
Yes, your monthly payments will be higher. But you’ll be mortgage-free at age 60 – and you won’t be making payments during the best years of your retirement.
15-year refinance rates example
We used The Mortgage Reports refinance calculator to show how 15-year refinance savings might compare to a 30-year refinance. You can do the same, using your own figures.
In this example, the homeowner bought their home 2 years ago, and has an existing mortgage balance of $250,000. Their current mortgage rate is 4% and their monthly mortgage payment for principal and interest is $1,200.
At the time they refinance, current rates for a 15-year mortgage are at 2.25%, while 30-year fixed rates are averaging 2.75%.
Here’s how their refinance options compare:
| New Loan Term | Loan Balance | New Interest Rate | New Monthly Payment* | Total Interest On New Loan |
| 30 years | $250,000 | 2.75% | $1,040 | $119,300 |
| 15 years | $250,000 | 2.25% | $1,660 | $45,500 |
*Interest rates and monthly payments are for sample purposes only. Monthly payment shown includes only loan principal and interest; homeowners insurance and property taxes are not included
In this example, choosing a 15-year refinance over a 30-year refinance has a number of benefits.
For one, the homeowner will now pay off their home in just 17 years, as opposed to the 32 years it would take if they refinanced into a new 30-year mortgage while already two years into their first loan.
But the biggest benefit comes from interest savings.
With a 15-year refinance, this homeowner would pay only $45,500 in interest over their new loan term. That’s less than half the cost of interest on a new 30-year loan — a total savings of more than $73,000.
But you can also see the disadvantage.
Instead of lowering their monthly payment, as a 30-year refinance would do, the new 15-year term increases this borrower’s payment by $460 per month.
That’s a big difference — and one that not many homeowners would be willing or able to handle. This is the tradeoff between 15-year mortgage rates and 30-year rates.
Check your 15-year mortgage rates15-year home purchase loans
Suppose you’re in the same position as the refinancing example above: half-way through paying down your 30-year mortgage loan. But want to move instead of refinancing.
You can still make huge savings by choosing a 15-year purchase mortgage.
In fact, your savings could be even bigger because purchase rates are sometimes lower than refinance rates.
For example, on December 24, 2024, the average rate on a 15-year purchase mortgage was % (% APR) as opposed to that % (% APR) on a 15-year refinance.
Building home equity
Another benefit to buying a house with a 15-year loan is that you’ll build home equity much faster, thanks to something called an ‘amortization schedule.’
An amortization schedule outlines how long it takes to pay down your mortgage principal and interest.
At the beginning of your loan term, a larger portion of your payment goes toward interest. Toward the end of your term, you finally start paying more toward the loan balance.
With a longer term of 30-years, you spend a long time paying down mortgage interest before you make a meaningful dent in your loan principal. With a shorter-term loan, you’ll start to pay down the loan balance and build equity a lot faster.
Again, run your own numbers, this time using The Mortgage Reports purchase mortgage calculator. Select both the 30-year and 15-year loan terms in turn to make your comparison.
Verify your 15-year home loan eligibilityHow your interest rate is determined
We can only show you today’s 15-year mortgage rates as averages. The rate you actually end up paying will be determined by a large number of factors.
You can influence some of the factors that determine you interest rate and get yourself a better deal. These include things like:
- The mortgage lender you choose
- Your credit score and credit report
- The size of your down payment
- Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI)
- Your employment history
Of course, mortgage interest rates also move up and down on a broader scale with the overall interest rate market. Supply and demand for ‘mortgage-backed securities’ (MBS) will have a big impact on your rate.
But there’s little you can do about that — so focus on factors you can control, like your loan-to-value ratio and credit score, if you want to save money.
Check your 15-year mortgage ratesIs it harder to qualify for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage?
On paper, it’s no harder to qualify for a 15-year mortgage loan than a 30-year one. Guidelines vary by loan type (conventional, FHA, or VA), but within each program, requirements for a 15- and 30-year loan are generally the same.
For instance, a 15-year FHA loan will likely require a credit score of at least 580, down payment of 3.5%, and debt-to-income ratio below 50%, just like a 30-year FHA mortgage.
But in reality, it’s much harder to qualify for a 15-year loan because of the higher monthly payments.
A bigger mortgage payment means your home loan will eat up more of your monthly income. This will have an impact on your debt-to-income ratio.
For most home buyers, a 15-year mortgage payment — plus existing debts — will take up more than 43% to 50% of their monthly income, which is the maximum DTI range most lenders allow.
If you’re set on a 15-year mortgage but have a tighter monthly budget, paying down existing debts before you apply for the home loan could help you qualify.
Verify your 15-year mortgage eligibility15-year mortgage rates FAQ
Just like all interest rates, 15-year mortgage rates go up and down most days — sometimes more than once a day. You can see current 15-year mortgage rates in the table above. They move roughly in line with 30-year rates (although they are lower) meaning they’ve fallen a lot over the last decade or so. At the time of writing, 15-year fixed rates are close to all-time lows.
It would be a very weird day indeed if 15-year fixed mortgage rates were higher than 30-year fixed rates. That almost never happens. But the gap between the two sometimes narrows or widens. For instance, at one point in 2013, 15-year fixed rates were nearly 1% lower than 30-year rates. Currently, they are about 0.50% lower. A 15-year fixed mortgage becomes more attractive it offers substantially lower rates than the 30-year.
Monthly payments on a 15-year fixed-rate loan will be significantly higher than with a 30-year mortgage. For instance, a $250,000 loan would cost about $1,660 per month in principal and interest at today’s rates versus $1,040 for a 30-year fixed. But, over the lifetime of your loan, you’ll see serious savings on mortgage interest.
You also need to factor in closing costs. These upfront fees usually total 2% to 5% of the loan amount. (And don’t expect that to be any lower on a 15-year loan than a 30-year.) If you opt for discount points to lower your interest rate even further, this will increase your closing costs.
Your loan officer can help you compare loan options and find the total cost and savings for a 15-year loan versus a 30-year loan.
If you can comfortably afford the monthly payments on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, it’s definitely a good idea. You stand to save tens of thousands of dollars — maybe even hundreds of thousands, with a shorter loan term.
But no type of mortgage is a good idea if you cannot comfortably make the monthly payments. Remember, the loan is secured by your home, so falling behind on payments could mean losing your home in a foreclosure.
For many people, the lower payments of a 30-year mortgage are more affordable and offer an extra level of security in case times get tough. You can always make extra payments each month, effectively turning your 30-year term into a 15-year one.
It’s harder to qualify for a 15-year mortgage because a lender needs to determine you can afford the higher monthly payments on your current budget. Aside from this consideration, it’s not too different. Minimum credit score and down payment requirements are typically the same for 15- and 30-year fixed mortgages.
There’s no single lender with the ‘best’ 15-year mortgage rates. A lender could be more or less competitive depending on your credit score, down payment, and other personal factors.
In addition, rates can change daily based on the market and a lender’s current workload. If lenders are busy, they might raise rates to deter business.
All this means you need to get mortgage rate quotes from multiple lenders. That’s your best chance of getting a great deal.
A 15-year refinance could net you a much lower rate and save you thousands in mortgage interest. As an alternative, you can usually pay down your 30-year mortgage very effectively by putting in a big lump sum or increasing your regular mortgage payments.
The benefit to this strategy is that you’re not required to pay extra on your mortgage; you can return to lower monthly payments at any time if money is tight. But with a 15-year mortgage, you’re obligated to make the higher monthly payments or risk your loan going delinquent.
If you’re not sure which option is best for you, talk to your lender and get some detailed figures about how much you could save with each strategy and which one makes the most sense given your current finances.
A shocking number of people ask just one lender or broker for a quote when they buy a home or refinance. But they risk losing many thousands of dollars by doing so. The best way to get a great deal is to request quotes from multiple lenders. Some say three is the minimum. But the more widely you cast your nets, the better your chance of landing an ultra-low rate.
By refinancing an existing loan, the total finance charges incurred may be higher over the life of the loan.