HLS
In complete agreement with you regarding comparing yesterdays rate, You can’t walk into a bank and ask for last weeks CD rate either. You need to compare apples to apples and that mean product, time fees etc.

What I seem to have a problem wit is the fact that you continually sell (FUD) Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.

Simple position. There are a lot of Mortgage brokers out there. Why not identify the PAR rate and see who is willing to take the least in fees YSP etc to do the loan. Seems to me that is the best way to get the best deal. If a broker wants to hit a certain funding volume so as to keep his wholesaler happy then they may take a thin profit on a loan.