Anyone refinancing their mortgage lately?

[HeatherC]

We are in the process of doing so. Our local credit union is offering a 15 year home equity loan for 3.75 percent with no points, no closing costs and no application fee. We have enough equity that we are doing away with the mortgage and just having the equity loan.

We will be saving about $60 a month And cutting five years off the loan, along with no prepayment penalties so we can't pass that up.

Cannot believe how low the rates are.

Anyone else taking advantage of this?

 

[CHawthorne]

I don't believe in paying interest. We paid cash for our apartment.

 

[vicki_c]

We are just starting a refinance (hopefully) - but I am really nervous that the appraisal allows us to do it. It's going to be a close call, so I'm crossing my fingers. IF it goes through, it would allow us to get our interest rate down from 6.675 to 3.75 which is huge for us in terms of monthly savings. It stinks though that we will have to get PMI now and never had it before in 3 different houses, but we lost all our equity (which was a lot ) that we brought to the house since prices dropped so much.

I try to be happy - we have a nice house, we have good jobs, and the worst case is that we will just keep paying it off like we are now if the refinance doesn't go through. Better than many people, I'm sure.

 

[m&m's mom]

We are in the process of doing so. Our local credit union is offering a 15 year home equity loan for 3.75 percent with no points, no closing costs and no application fee. We have enough equity that we are doing away with the mortgage and just having the equity loan.

We will be saving about $60 a month And cutting five years off the loan, along with no prepayment penalties so we can't pass that up.

Cannot believe how low the rates are.

Anyone else taking advantage of this?

I think that's great! I looked into it a few months ago but was undecided. I know I might kick myself later but we have some land for sale and when it sells then we are paying off the house. Of course, that could be a few years.

 

[RachaelA]

We did last month. I think we went down to 3.85 (from 5.15) and went to a 20 year from a 30 year (29 years left) and our payment went up by only $40. We'll have the loan paid off before DD goes to college which will be nice (we pay a bit extra each month)!

 

[bettymae1121]

I'd love to, but even though we put 20% down when we bought the place, we're likely underwater on our loan. So we're stuck at 5.75%

 

[vicki_c]

I'd love to, but even though we put 20% down when we bought the place, we're likely underwater on our loan. So we're stuck at 5.75%

I feel your pain. That's why I'm crossing my fingers on the appraisal. Depending on where you look, there is a wide variance on what our home is worth. So depending on how the real appraisal comes back, we may be stuck at our 6+% rate too. Keep the faith - and just keep paying!

 

[Bunless]

Yup, did all the final signing of the foot tall stack of papers yesterday.

We've done this several times over the years.

 

[HeatherC]

I really feel for those of you that have had their home values go down. It really s--cks! We are fortunate here (MA) that our prices have only dropped slightly and our particular area seems to be holding steady luckily.

What gets me is that I noticed all these govt. mortgage loans advertising 2.5 percent. Yet for those of us who have good credit and pay our bills on time, we can't qualify. You have to be behind several months on payments to even be considered.

Don't get me wrong, I KNOW how lucky I am and how many others have had the rug pulled out from under them in this economy. It just seems like there should also be a way for people who do pay on time and do keep their credit in good standing to qualify as well. After all, I really think 90 percent of Americans are hurting in this economy and it would be great if more could qualify for these low interest loans. I would think it would help stimulate the economy because people would be able to cut their monthly payments which frees up some cash. Tough times for most of us, unfortunately.

 

[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I feel your pain. That's why I'm crossing my fingers on the appraisal. Depending on where you look, there is a wide variance on what our home is worth. So depending on how the real appraisal comes back, we may be stuck at our 6+% rate too. Keep the faith - and just keep paying!

Stupid appraisal killed us ... had locked in at 3.25 (from 5.0) moving to 15 year loan ... then appraisal came back literally $200K below one two years ago ... insane!

I wish you both luck, though!

 

[Meriweather]

Just closed on a refinance.

We are at 4.25% down from 6.5......saving us $500 a month.
Our house dropped in value from when it was built 3 years ago and is worth about what we owe. We put 20% down.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We did this about a year ago and it was one of the best things that we have ever done. We went from 6.5% to 3.875% and from a 30 year (23 years left) to a 15 year. We are really seeing a difference on the monthly statements too.

Good luck to all of you who are doing this right now, or even thinking about it. It really is worth looking in to.

 

[Deb in IA]

I can beat you all.

We refinanced last month.

15 year fixed rate, 3.0 % 1/8 point.

This saves us $162 per month from our last mortage.

 

[SaraJayne]

We are. We're dropping two percentage points off the interest (down to 3.2%) and refinancing to a 10 year.

The great thing is our mortgage payment will stay the same, even though we're shaving 5 years off the loan.

 

[rgf207]

Can I ask how people are getting such great rates?

We bought 5 years ago. We have a 6.18% 30 year fixed loan. Our home value dropped about 80K from when we bought it (we are underwater).

I called last week and they best they could do was somewhere around 5.05%. My credit is 805 and the wife is right around 800. The small reduction in payments doesn't make it worth it with the closing costs.

 

[SaraJayne]

Actually, let me correct myself. We're refinancing to a 15 year, but keeping our payments the same to pay off in 10 years.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[vicki_c]

Can I ask how people are getting such great rates?

We bought 5 years ago. We have a 6.18% 30 year fixed loan. Our home value dropped about 80K from when we bought it (we are underwater).

I called last week and they best they could do was somewhere around 5.05%. My credit is 805 and the wife is right around 800. The small reduction in payments doesn't make it worth it with the closing costs.

I can't believe they would talk to you at all if you are underwater, unless it's for one of the Government refinance offers (we don't qualify for any of those offers because we don't have a Fannie loan).

Sorry that you are underwater. We would be too if we hadn't put over 20% down. We also bought 5 years ago and our home has dropped even more in value. It sucks.

My offer is from a mortgage broker in NC that I found online, but the refinance would actually be through Chase.

 

[shaylyn]

We signed the papers on our re-fi at the beginning of October.

Went from a 30 year in the mid 5% to a 10 year at 3.2% Dh works for the bank so we didn't have any fees.

We still had about 23 years left on the first mortgage, so excited to get it done & over with in only 10 years!

 

["Got Disney"]

we re locked in at 3.875 refinance from a 5.6 before....taking 60,000 out and still saving $300 a month on mortgage.....if our value comes higher than we will take a little more out....we want to pay off all debt. We will be paying off our second,our new truck, and a couple other things...total monthly savings after that is over $1.000 a month....will take that savings and pay off rest of debt than take $500 and pay back to pay truck off so not paying for it for 30 years

need the cash with a son starting college and another heading that way....


all in all cant grip about saving $300 on mortgage and also getting 60,000 on top of that to pay off some headaches.

by the way we went from still having 19 years to 30 years.....we have refinances like 3 times since we have owned our home...we took money out all the time and remodeled.....out home has dropped like crazy also....$700 to around $450-500.....we are not underwater...or upside down.....sure we are all in shock as we see what the values of our homes have been reduced to ...UGH!

 

[tvguy]

Amazing how things change.

We hurried to buy our house in 1983 when interest rates PLUNGED from 16% to 12.25%
We hurried to refinance when rates fell to 9% in 1987....and refinanced again in 1991 when they fell to 6.25% for a 15 year. Throwing a little extra into the payment each month means it's been paid off since 2000. Good thing too, because looking at my budget, I don't know how I would find the money these days for a house payment.