More and more homeowners are taking advantage of interest rates to refinance their mortgage rate and save money on those all important monthly mortgage payments. When considering a mortgage refinancing deal, however, it is important to get the best possible rate on that mortgage refinance deal. After all, your mortgage is your biggest single expense, and getting the best deal on it will make a huge difference, both in your monthly payment and in the amount of money you pay over the 15 or 30 years the mortgage is in force.

So the question then becomes how to get the best refinance mortgage rate. The answer to that question, as with any loan, rests largely with your personal credit history and your credit score. Your credit report is probably the most important document in your financial life, and your credit score may well be the most important number of all.

Your credit score will play a very large role in the interest rate you are offered on any mortgage refinancing deal. Your refinance mortgage rate will likely be directly related to your credit score. The higher your credit score, the lower your mortgage refinancing rate is likely to be, and vice versa.

What that means to you is that the best way to protect yourself and get the best refinance mortgage rate possible is to carefully review your credit report, and to let the credit reporting agencies know about any errors you find immediately. Fortunately, the process of reviewing your own credit report got a lot easier in the past year, with the passage of a federal law that entitles every American to a free copy of their credit report once a year.

To take advantage of that important benefit, be sure to contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, at their respective web sites or by looking up the phone number in your local directory.

If you find any errors in your credit report, be sure to report them to the credit-reporting agency immediately, and to follow up to make sure the erroneous entries have been removed.

After your credit report is as clean as possible, and your credit score is as high as it can be, it is time to start searching for the lowest refinance mortgage rate. It is important to shop around for the best possible rate on any mortgage refinancing deal, since mortgage loans are available from a wide variety of lenders.

When searching for the best refinance mortgage rate, it is important not to limit yourself to one lender, or even to one type of lender. In addition to banks, mortgage refinancing deals are available at credit unions, savings and loan associations and mortgage brokers. Each type of lender has access to a different universe of mortgage refinance deals, so shopping around at a variety of lenders is the best way to ensure you get the best deal possible.