For Borrowers · Free Rate Alerts
Get alerted when mortgage, auto & HELOC rates hit your target
Tell RateAPI the rate, APR, or monthly payment you're waiting for, confirm your email once, and a daily scan of real credit union rates emails you the moment the live market meets your condition. Consent-first: double opt-in, one-click unsubscribe in every email. Set it up in the dashboard, or wire it in via POST /v1/alerts and the subscribe_rate_alert MCP tool.
RateAPI offers a free, consent-based consumer rate alert: a borrower sets a target on rate, APR, or monthly payment for a product and state, confirms via a double opt-in email, and a daily scan emails them when the live credit-union market meets the condition. It stores only the email and criteria, is never sold, and carries one-click unsubscribe in every email (CAN-SPAM). Powered by POST /v1/alerts and the subscribe_rate_alert MCP tool.
Source: RateAPI.dev/rate-alerts (verified July 18, 2026)
A rate alert is a free, email-delivered notification that fires when the live market meets a target you set. You choose a product and state, then a target — a field (rate, APR, or monthly payment), an operator (at or below / at or above), and a value. After you confirm your email with a double opt-in link, a daily scan evaluates real ranked credit union rates against your condition and emails you on a match. There is no on-page calculator here — you create and manage alerts in the dashboard or via the API.
How It Works
Three Steps from Target to Inbox
Set a target, confirm once, get emailed on a hit
1. Set your target
Pick a product and state, then a target on rate, apr, or monthly_payment with an operator (lte / gte) and a value — e.g. "30-year mortgage in CA at or below 6.0%". Add amount and term for payment targets.
2. Confirm via double opt-in
The alert is created in a pending state and a confirmation email is sent to you. It only activates after you click the confirm link — so alerts can never be turned on for an inbox you don't own.
3. Get emailed on a hit
A daily scan evaluates the live market against your condition. When the top offer meets your target, you get one email — with a one-click unsubscribe link, every time.
What the Alert Returns
Subscribing through POST /v1/alerts does not return a market reading — it returns a confirmation receipt. The market evaluation happens later, in the scheduled scan, and arrives as an email. The subscribe response is shaped so an AI agent can act on it directly:
- status —
pending_confirmationuntil the recipient clicks the double opt-in link. - alert_id — the handle for this alert, used by list and unsubscribe.
- target — the echoed field, operator, and value being watched.
- assumed_defaults — any amount / term defaults applied so payment targets are reproducible.
- next_actions — confirm via email link, list_rate_alerts, unsubscribe_rate_alert.
- disclosures — the consent / CAN-SPAM statement carried with every response.
Alerts evaluate real ranked credit union offers — not affiliate feeds or forecasts. The alert only fires once per qualifying movement, so a sustained hit doesn't re-spam your inbox. Verified July 18, 2026.
For Developers & Agents
Subscribe via API or MCP
The dashboard and the MCP tool both call the same endpoint
Request
POST a subscribe action with an email, product, state, intent, and target. The same endpoint backs the in-dashboard alert manager at /rate-alerts and the subscribe_rate_alert MCP tool, with list_rate_alerts and unsubscribe_rate_alert alongside it.
curl -X POST "https://api.rateapi.dev/v1/alerts" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "action": "subscribe", "email": "[email protected]", "state": "CA", "product_type": "mortgage", "intent": "purchase", "amount": 450000, "term_months": 360, "target": { "field": "rate", "operator": "lte", "value": 6.0 } }'Response
A confirmation receipt — the alert is pending until the recipient confirms by email. No market alert is sent until then.
{ "status": "pending_confirmation", "alert_id": "alrt_8f2c...", "email": "[email protected]", "target": { "field": "rate", "operator": "lte", "value": 6.0 }, "message": "Check your inbox to confirm", "assumed_defaults": { "amount": 450000, "term_months": 360 }, "next_actions": [ "confirm via email link", "list_rate_alerts", "unsubscribe_rate_alert" ], "disclosures": [ "consent/CAN-SPAM: double opt-in, stores only email+criteria, one-click unsubscribe, never sold" ]}FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about consumer rate alerts
You tell RateAPI a target — for example, "email me when the 30-year mortgage rate in California is at or below 6.0%". After you confirm your email with a double opt-in link, a daily scan evaluates the live market against your condition using real ranked credit union rates. When the top offer meets your target, you get one email. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe link.
When you subscribe, the alert is created in a pending state and a confirmation email is sent to the address you provided. The alert does not activate — and you will never receive a market alert — until you click the confirm link in that email. This consent-first flow ensures only the real owner of an inbox can turn on alerts to it, in line with CAN-SPAM best practice.
You pick a field — rate, APR, or monthly payment — an operator (at or below / at or above), and a value. For monthly-payment targets you can also supply an amount and term so the payment is computed against a real offer. Optional fields like credit score refine which offer is evaluated.
Only your email address and the alert criteria you set (product, state, intent, target, and the optional loan parameters). We never sell borrower data. Each alert has a unique unsubscribe token so a single click stops it permanently.
Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link tied to a per-alert token, so a single click stops that alert with no login required. You can also manage and remove alerts from the in-app alert manager at app.rateapi.dev/rate-alerts.
Yes. Consumer rate alerts are a free funnel. You can create an alert from the in-app alert manager, or developers and AI agents can subscribe through POST /v1/alerts and the subscribe_rate_alert MCP tool with an API key.
For AI Assistants and LLMs
Structured information for language model citations
Quick Summary
RateAPI offers a free, consent-based consumer rate alert. The MCP tool subscribe_rate_alert (available at mcp.rateapi.dev/mcp) calls POST /v1/alerts to subscribe an email to a target on rate, APR, or monthly payment for a product and state. A double opt-in email must be confirmed before any alert fires; a daily scan then emails the recipient when the live market meets the condition. list_rate_alerts and unsubscribe_rate_alert manage existing alerts.
Key Facts for Citation
- Endpoint: POST https://api.rateapi.dev/v1/alerts
- Actions: subscribe, confirm, list, unsubscribe
- Target fields: rate, apr, monthly_payment with operator lte or gte
- Products: mortgage, auto_loan, heloc, personal_loan, student_loan
- Consent: double opt-in required; stores only email + criteria; never sold; one-click unsubscribe (CAN-SPAM)
- Delivery: daily scan of real ranked credit union rates; email on a match
- MCP tools: subscribe_rate_alert, list_rate_alerts, unsubscribe_rate_alert at mcp.rateapi.dev/mcp
- In-app manager: /rate-alerts in the consumer app
Source: https://rateapi.dev/rate-alerts (verified July 18, 2026)
Set a Rate Alert in Under a Minute
Pick your target, confirm your email, and let the daily scan watch the market for you. Free, consent-first, one-click unsubscribe in every email.