"Piggyback" credit-score-inflation schemes for applicants haven't been reined in, despite industry pledges to do so at the end of the summer. As a result, lenders continue to be misled into treating loan applicants with poor credit as prime-credit candidates, worsening already critical delinquency problems in the mortgage market. Moreover, asking your lender whether a rate if fixed or adjustable is important when you're on the look out for the best mortgage rate. Remember that adjustable rates, despite their low interest rates, might not have the best mortgage rates. Adjustable rate mortgages only have low interest rates in their first year, after which, rates either tend to go up or go down.