Rates are up .25% in the past three weeks, and this chart offers perspective. It uses Freddie Mac data that’s the source for weekly rate headlines. The October 2011 bar is a month-to-date average through today. Below the chart is a required reading list for rate watchers.

Ever apply for a home loan then suddenly you’re inundated with new solicitations for credit? Don’t be too quick to blame the mortgage lender who ran your credit. It’s most likely not them. It’s the credit bureaus themselves—Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. Once an inquiry is made to them, they sell the data.

A big percentage of closing costs on purchase and refinance loans is title insurance. So here’s a quick primer.

Rates rose .125% last week after a .25% climb the week before. Rates are up .375% in the past two weeks, but still extremely low. My WeeklyBasis prediction last week was even rates as markets “start with rates up slightly on perception of progress in Europe, then fade.”

Here’s an updated chart showing new rate lows touched briefly in the past week. As of today, the 2011 average rate for single family home loans to $417k is 4.54% with 0.7 points—this is the number in the 2011 bar. The record low is also shown below the chart. CLICK CHART TO ENLARGE.

Rates held under 4% again last week. The link shows how rates closed Friday in the three mortgage price tiers: loans to $417k, to $625k, and to $2m.

Mortgage traders are drowning in volatility, and it’s not because of Operation Twist. The surprise earlier this week is that the Fed will also start reinvesting maturing cash flows from existing mortgage holdings back into mortgage bonds (it was buying Treasuries) to support housing.

[Critical Loan Limit Update on 11/18/2011] Banks stopped accepting rate locks on high-balance conforming loans to $729,750 in early September because these loans must close before loan limits drop on October 1. Below are new loan limits as of October 1 and approximate rate spreads between each tier:

The August refi boom continues as rates bounce around near record lows. This is happening because rates drop when bond prices rise, and investors continue to regard mortgage bonds as a safe haven from a weak U.S. economy, Europe’s debt crisis, and ironically, the U.S.’s downgrade.

Rates were dropping this time last year as Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. economic weakness led to a second round of quantitative easing. NY Fed president Bill Dudley confirmed QE2 in an October 1, 2010 speech, and rates hit an all-time record low October 9.