I am a regular participant in the Bankrate.com Mortgage Rate Trend survey and this week's survey is now available.

As a reminder:

1. The survey is for conforming loans only.
2. I welcome emails from readers about purchase or refinance plans.
3. I twitter market updates a few times daily.  Follow me.

Anyway, on to the group's predictions for the next 30 days:

• 71% of participants predict rates will increase
• 21% of participants predict rates will decrease
• 9% of participants predict rates will remain unchanged

I am predicting that rates will increase over the next 30 days, but that doesn't mean you should necessarily follow my advice when choosing whether to lock a rate, or float it.  My advice may not be appropriate for your individual situation.

From the Bankrate.com survey:

"Stock markets should benefit from falling commodity prices, pulling money from the mortgage bond market."

Now, silly me, I sent my comments to Bankrate.com before I found this choice nugget, buried on the Fannie Mae Web site.  I still expect rates to increase over the next 30 days, but now I am even more sure -- Fannie Mae raised its loan fees across the board.

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Dan Green is an active loan officer. Email or call 513-443-2020. Dan is on Twitter at @mortgagereports.