Here's a welcome twist on the adjustable-rate mortgage: a rate that can only go down. Service Savers, in Fairfax, Va., offers a loan on which you can lower your rate at no cost (for loans exceeding $:110,000) whenever market rates fall by more than 0.25 percentage point. Service Savers (877-593-6277) lends in all states except Florida, New Jersey and New York. Its rate was recently 7.75% for a 30-year mortgage with no points or closing costs, roughly equivalent to the 7.2% national average for loans with one point and standard closing costs.

Along the same lines, City Line Mortgage in San Diego offers a declining-rate loan you can refinance free whenever rates drop by 0.5 percentage point or more. Chief executive officer James Riley hopes the new mortgage will help the company retain customers and the monthly servicing fees they represent. (A loan servicer receives about 0.25% of the loan balance each year for handling payments and paying taxes.) Riley says the cost of drawing up new title and other paperwork is no more burdensome than finding new borrowers.

City Line (800-813-5119) lends to home-owners in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The recent rate on a 30-year loan was a bit above the 7.2% average.

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