For those of you with a mortgage.....

[Sheepshank]

have you checked the rates lately? Holeee crap-an-oli! I just put in the paperwork to refinance at a FIXED 3.5%.....and get this, absolutley no fees. I suppose the no-fee part cound have come about since I'm refinancing with the same bank I already have my original loan with, but still. If there is any concern that we will not be able to write off mortgage interest, this may be of some help.

My first mortgage came while Reagan was in office, the going rate was 16-18% and I was lucky enough to get a State sponsored loan at 10.5%, and We considered ourselves lucky to get that rate.

Just thought I'd pass it on for us poor suckers that are still paying off our homes!

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. We built our home so couldn't get lower than 6.5% I believe. Still a good rate compared to

what was going on in the 80s, though!

[Sheepshank]

2. Can you re-fi once the home is completed?

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. We looked into, but it cost a lot of money to do it.

[upaloopa]

4. There my be no out of pocket fees but there are fees. They are added on to your loan balance.

Say you owE $250k and you refinance and the costs are $5k then your new loan is $255K.


You may reduce your monthly payment by $100 but you need to divide the $5k costs by $100 to see how many months it will take you to make up the additional costs. It will take 50 months before you begin to see any benefit from the refinancing. (5,000 / 100 = 50)

[Sheepshank]

8. Actually there are absolutley NO FEES

nothing to be buried back into the loan. Even the appraisal is free. No closing costs, recording fees, filing fees, nothing, nada.

I have to come up with escrow money, and even that will be reimbursed to me when the old account is closed.

So absolutely no fees for me.......I KNOW, right?

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. It is worth asking the bank you are already with

and to ask the title company separately for repeat/refi business discounts. Since the bank already (assumably) already holds title and a title check clears that there are no outstanding liens added, in many cases they will waive the fees. Not sure about things like stamps (that may be a local/state deal), but it is worth asking the question.

[Proud Public Servant]

5. Who'd you re-fi with

I've been looking into this casually but, since we already have a good rate, it hasn't been worth it once you factor in the fees. But no fees? That would definitely be worth it.

[Sheepshank]

7. US bank

and really no fees, nothing buried in the loan as indicated above. No appraisals, no filinf documentation.

I do have to re-establish my escrow (prop tax and insurance to the tune of $1500), but that will be reimbursed when the previous account is paid off and the escrow account is refunded (I currently have $1700 in there, so will get some mad money out of it).

[Proud Public Servant]

11. Thanks for the info! [n/t]

[RedSpartan]

6. I recently refi'd down to 3.75% for a 30 year fixes, no fees.

I had been at 4.5% fixed for 30, which is still pretty darn great.

[onethatcares]

9. well hell yeah, I went from

7.5 to 3.29 about 8 months ago on a 30 yr fixed with one of those Atlanta based banks where my wife and I have a checking account. Our loan payment is $525/mo and we throw 200.00 extra a month on it now. It used to be 635.00 and we were still tossing an extra 100.00 a month on it.

We had to pay for the appraisal, $200.00 other than that, nothing.

[flyguyjake]

10. I have two mortgages

at 6.5% fixed APR, perfect credit (a lot of it though), payments never late, self employed and both homes are 45% underwater. Banks won't touch me! BASTARDS!!!

So much for whatever refi stimulus there was... aint helpin my ass any!

[SoCalDem]

16. Yep... the lowered values have hurt the re-fi businesses out here

We "could" re-fi, but since my husband is collecting SS and still working, and I am collecting as well, we NEED the tax deduction more than a few hundred off the monthly payment..we are prepaying extra on principal, so that when he retires in a few years, the upside-down-ness will be less.. (if rates are still low)..

out house went down in "value" by about $250K (from the high in '06)..and we are still about $20K underwater from what we owe..

[AzSweet]

13. We looked into it..

..but with the much increased mortgage insurance we would be requrired to pay, its only a savings of about $20 a month..just not worth it.

[bhikkhu]

14. Yes - and the banks seem happy to lend

I'm refinancing my first and second, and including my student loans as well (!), at a fixed 2.8% 15 year loan.

The best part is I'm dumping Chase and two east coast finance companies and going with my local credit union!

[MissB]

15. Can't take advantage.

2.5 years ago we refi'd down to a 15 year at 3.25%. It doesn't make sense anymore.

But I hope folks can take advantage. I don't see rates going lower, although I'm pretty sure I said the same thing when we refi'd!