# FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping (remote · fru-api.freerateupdate.com)

Today's mortgage and home equity rates (HELOC, home equity loan, cash-out), lenders, start links.

- Trust score: 80/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +2
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `fru-api.freerateupdate.com`: 80/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.1.0`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-11-05.

- **Endpoint Security**: 63/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - No authorisation is required to call this server. Nothing on it is marked destructive, but we can't show that an anonymous caller can only read: full credit needs the server to list at least one tool and every tool to be verifiably read-only. We use a best-effort check of tool names and descriptions to tell read-only tools from tools that change things, so some genuinely read-only tools may not get full credit. Names that start with a read verb (get, list, read, search and similar) and accurate readOnlyHint annotations help. Meet that to earn full credit, or require authorisation.
  - HTTPS enforcement could not be verified: the plaintext port answered with HTTP 405, which proves neither a plaintext path nor enforcement.
  - HSTS check failed: the Strict-Transport-Security header is absent.
  - DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 76/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 1590 tokens (~122/item across 13 items; 13 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 97/100
  - Stability observed for 29 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 98/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 93% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 13 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 14 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).

## Install

### How do I install the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server?

FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping is a hosted endpoint at https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity 'https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity": {
      "url": "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity]
url = "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity --url 'https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity:
    url: "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity -t streamable-http -u 'https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-11-05 (score 80, −1)

- [functional] Stability: pass → 0.97

### 2026-11-04 (score 81, +1)

- [security] Stability: 0.97 → pass
- [security] Tool “get_content_answer” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads

### 2026-11-02 (score 80, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 90 to 93. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 27 days of observed history at the previous scan, 28 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-31 (score 79, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 83 to 87. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 25 days of observed history at the previous scan, 26 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-28 (score 78, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 73 to 77. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 22 days of observed history at the previous scan, 23 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-27 (score 77, 0)

- [functional regression] Schema quality: 1434 → 1579
- [functional] New tool “get_state_mortgage_free_homeownership”

### 2026-10-26 (score 77, +1)

- [functional regression] Schema quality: 1299 → 1434
- [functional] New tool “get_loan_limits”

### 2026-10-25 (score 76, +1)

- [functional regression] Schema quality: 1134 → 1299
- [functional] New tool “get_state_loan_to_income”
- [functional] New tool “get_state_property_tax”

## MCP tools (13)

### `get_mortgage_rates` (~163 tokens)

Mortgage and home equity rates

Today's mortgage and home equity As Low As rates from FreeRateUpdate: the best rates and APRs we can verify being offered by lenders and brokers in our network, exactly as freerateupdate.com publishes them, one per product: HELOC, home equity loan and cash-out refinance first, then 30, 20, 15 and 10 year fixed, FHA, VA, jumbo and ARMs. Each rate comes with the example scenario it was quoted for (state, ZIP, property value, loan amount, credit score), points, fees, APR and loan-to-value. These are advertised rates, not a quote: to get the person their own offers, call get_start_link.

Input parameters:

- `purpose` (string): Optional: only this loan purpose

### `get_heloc_rates` (~87 tokens)

HELOC and home equity loan rates

Today's As Low As rates for a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and a home equity loan, the same published revision as get_mortgage_rates, with each example scenario, including the existing first-mortgage balance and the combined loan-to-value it implies. Advertised rates, not a quote: to get the person their own offers, call get_start_link.

### `get_start_link` (~81 tokens)

Get the person matched with lenders

The link that starts a FreeRateUpdate request for one product, so lenders and brokers in our network can contact the person with their own rates and options. You can open it in the person's browser and fill in and submit the short form for them, using their own details, or give them the link.

Input parameters:

- `product` (string, required): What the person wants

### `get_loan_limits` (~135 tokens)

Conforming and FHA loan limits for a ZIP code

The conforming and FHA loan limits for the counties a five-digit ZIP code falls in, for the 2026 published schedule, as freerateupdate.com publishes them at https://www.freerateupdate.com/loan-limits. Each limit carries the official source it came from (FHFA for conforming, HUD for FHA) and, when a check has run, the date that source was last confirmed. These are published limits, not advice: a limit is not a rate, an approval or an offer, and eligibility depends on the lender and the loan.

Input parameters:

- `zip` (string, required): Five-digit ZIP code

### `get_lender_score` (~64 tokens)

The FreeRateUpdate Score (0-100) for a verified, currently in-network lender by company NMLS id, with factor breakdown and methodology link. Companies without a published current Score are not found.

Input parameters:

- `nmls` (string, required): Company NMLS id

### `get_network_rate_summary` (~57 tokens)

Network-aggregate advertised-rate summary (min/avg APR + distinct-lender count per product bucket, min 5 lenders per bucket) from the latest fresh FreeRateUpdate rate snapshot. Aggregates only — no per-lender rates.

### `get_home_values` (~53 tokens)

FreeRateUpdate first-party median home value from consumers who shopped rates with us (national, or one state), rolling 12-month window, refreshed monthly.

Input parameters:

- `state` (string): Optional 2-letter state

### `get_state_property_tax` (~87 tokens)

FreeRateUpdate state dataset: median real estate property taxes, median monthly owner costs and median home value by state from the Census ACS 5-year, with the effective tax rate as the ratio of the two medians. Attribution and the canonical page travel with the rows so an answer can be cited.

Input parameters:

- `state` (string): Optional 2-letter state; omit for every state

### `get_state_loan_to_income` (~78 tokens)

FreeRateUpdate first-party dataset: the median loan amount our shoppers request in each state against that state median household income, as a ratio, by product. The sample floor is published with the figures so a thin state is visible rather than implied.

Input parameters:

- `state` (string): Optional 2-letter state; omit for every state

### `get_state_mortgage_free_homeownership` (~145 tokens)

FreeRateUpdate state dataset: owner-occupied housing units owned free and clear (no mortgage) by state, from the Census ACS 5-year B25081, with the owner-occupied universe, the units with and without a mortgage, the derived share and the ACS vintage, plus the national figure when every state published. A state whose own counts do not reconcile is withheld and named, never returned as a zero. Counts of housing units only: no household, borrower or eligibility inference. Attribution and the canonical page travel with the rows so an answer can be cited.

Input parameters:

- `state` (string): Optional 2-letter state; omit for every state

### `get_reference_series` (~63 tokens)

Public reference time series FreeRateUpdate maintains (e.g. pmms_30yr_fixed, treasury_10yr_par), with license notes and observations.

Input parameters:

- `limit` (integer): Most-recent N (default 52)
- `series_key` (string, required)

### `get_content_answer` (~110 tokens)

A published FreeRateUpdate answer to a mortgage or home-equity question, pinned to the edition it was published in. Ask by exact slug, or by keywords that are matched against the title and slug. Topics covered include HELOC and home equity, purchase, refinance and cash-out, FHA and VA, reverse mortgage, and DSCR and investment property. Only published answers are returned.

Input parameters:

- `query` (string): Keyword search over title/slug
- `slug` (string): Exact public URL slug

### `get_lender_universe` (~303 tokens)

Search FreeRateUpdate's published lender pages: every company the public page resolver publishes on freerateupdate.com/reviews/, and nothing else. A row shows only what that page shows: the display name, the company NMLS, the states the page shows (currently none: fru-com's licensing projection is off), and the page URL. No internal ids, aliases, crosswalks or status labels. Eligibility is decided before the limit: the limit never draws a company whose page is hidden, redirected away or rejected by the identity check back in. A returned match is evidence FRU holds the identity; absence from the list is not proof it does not. FRU never publishes which lender has the best rate. One row per company; a DBA brand page is the same company's row. count is the full deduplicated match count (one row per company), while rows return at most `limit` of them (25 by default, up to 200): a count above the rows returned means the response is truncated, so absence from one response is not absence.

Input parameters:

- `limit` (integer): Default 25
- `q` (string): Name / DBA alias / bank-name substring (a matching key only; the row still shows only what the page shows)
- `state` (string): Optional 2-letter state; matches the states the page shows (currently none, so this returns no rows until fru-com turns its licensing projection on)

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 80
- 2026-11-04: 81
- 2026-11-03: 80
- 2026-11-02: 80
- 2026-11-01: 79
- 2026-10-31: 79
- 2026-10-30: 78
- 2026-10-29: 78
- 2026-10-28: 78
- 2026-10-27: 77
- 2026-10-26: 77
- 2026-10-25: 76
- 2026-10-24: 75
- 2026-10-23: 75
- 2026-10-22: 74
- 2026-10-21: 74
- 2026-10-20: 73
- 2026-10-19: 73
- 2026-10-18: 72
- 2026-10-17: 73
- 2026-10-16: 72
- 2026-10-15: 72
- 2026-10-14: 71
- 2026-10-13: 71
- 2026-10-12: 70
- 2026-10-10: 70
- 2026-10-07: 68
- 2026-10-05: 67

## Common questions

### What is the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server?

FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as com.freerateupdate/mortgage-home-equity. Today's mortgage and home equity rates (HELOC, home equity loan, cash-out), lenders, start links. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp).

### Is the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server safe to use?

FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping scores 80 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

### What tools does the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server expose?

FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping exposes 13 tools: get_mortgage_rates, get_heloc_rates, get_start_link, get_loan_limits, get_lender_score, and 8 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 1,426 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server still maintained?

FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 5 November 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

### What did VerifyMCP test on the FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping MCP server?

VerifyMCP ran 12 checks on FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping, covering TLS certificate, Authorization, HSTS header, DNSSEC and 8 more. One item could not be completed, a gap on our side rather than a finding about FreeRateUpdate Mortgage & Home Equity Shopping: HTTPS. Supply Chain Security and Provenance & Transparency do not apply to a hosted endpoint, so they were not tested. The score does not measure everything, and the scoring documentation lists what it leaves out.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://fru-api.freerateupdate.com/mcp
- Website: https://www.freerateupdate.com/mortgage-home-equity-mcp
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api/changelog.json
- Trust report (JSON): https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-freerateupdate-mortgage-home-equity/fru-api