Mortgage rates were mostly steady today for most lenders.  Those who changed generally did so in a friendly direction.  Either way, that means today's rates remain in line with all-time lows.  It also makes them markedly lower than last week.  Despite that fact, you're more likely to see news about rates rising just a bit week-over-week.  Who's telling you the truth?

To be fair, no one is lying to you.  It's just a question of timing and data sources.  Freddie Mac publishes a weekly rate survey every Thursday morning.  It's widely relied-upon as source material for all manner of media outlets.  The issue is that it is based primarily on responses received on Monday and Tuesday.  The 2nd half of the week isn't even counted.  That means Freddie's data missed the week's best improvement yesterday afternoon and this morning. 

Bottom line: in terms of actual daily mortgage rate quotes, the average lender is at all-time lows today and yesterday. While the improvement isn't massive, it is technically an improvement whereas the prevailing news suggests the opposite.