ING for home re-fi?

[MarthaJr.]

Hello fellow budgeteers! Got a tempting email from ING today for a good re-fi rate. Does anyone have experience with doing a re-fi with ING? I'd love to know how the experience was start to finish.

 

[Colinsmom]

Keep in mind that they generally offer only adjustable rate mortgages, so that great rate that they show you will change in a few years (likely going up, along with your payment). That has kept me from pursuing a refi with them.

 

[amylevan]

I was tempted by the rates, too. But read the fine print. ING mortgages are 5 yr and then you owe the balance. Yes, you MAY be able to renew with them, but you have to refinance and pay the fees again. So without a crystal ball, you don't know what rates will be like in 5 years, what house values will be, what your job will be like. It's almost worse than just an ARM, because at least with ARM you still have a mortgage even if you can't refinance. Here if you can't refinance, you owe the balance.

http://www.eddieoneverything.com/co...-orange-mortgage-not-as-easy-as-you-think.php

 

[hoffmann2828]

As noted above, they are ARM loans.

However, that being said, they are phenomenally low interest rates, and, as long as you understand what you are getting into, it "COULD" be the right loan for you.

First, how long do you intend to stay in this property? If you are a "lifer" who plans to leave the house feet first as they say when you die, then DO NOT consider this loan at all. Get a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and pay on it. Period. If you are someone who moves every 3 years, then it may be a great option for you. If you are never going to see an adjustment period, then it will be "fixed" the entire time you are making your payments.

Second, it is a 5 year loan, but you DO NOT have to refinance completely in order to keep the mortgage. ING allows you to lock in for another 5 years (as long as you've made good payments and your income hasn't dropped substantially) with ZERO cost if you do so within the last 3 months of the original term. Also, what no one has mentioned yet is that you can also lock in at ANY time during that 5 year period for ANOTHER 5 year period and you only pay a much smaller fee for doing so.

Third, your best bet is to call ING directly or read up on it on their website to learn more. You don't get locked into anything right away, and it could be worth your time to call and ask.

Bottom line is you have to have a really good idea on how long you are going to be in this home to really make a decision.

Good luck!
Jenny

 

[hsmamato2]

ARM loans are what they offered me too...NO THANKS!!!!!
the rates for a fixed rate are almost as low as what they're offering right now anyway....ARM = awful.....who knows what rates will look like when it adjusts?
I'm searching for a great fixed......

 

[nunzia]

Keep in mind that they generally offer only adjustable rate mortgages, so that great rate that they show you will change in a few years (likely going up, along with your payment). That has kept me from pursuing a refi with them.

This is exactly what I was going to post. I have several accounts with them and liked the look of the refi, but then I saw adjustable and went NOPE

 

[morgan98]

I just wanted to point out one additional piece of information. While ing mortgages are indeed ARMS, there are two types of mortgages that they offer.

The "Easy Orange" is the option being discussed in the original post. That option does in fact have the balance of the loan due in a balloon payment at the end of the five years.

The other option is called the "Orange Mortgage". This option has either a 5 or 7 year ARM with the fixed rate for this period of time. However, the mortgage has an amortization period of 30 years (360 months). After the initial 5 or 7 year period is up, the rate does adjust to the current rate, however, the balance does not become due. Also there are limits in place as to how much the rate can go up. In other words, the rate cannot jump from say 4.5% to 8% or more because of the limits. At this time you can look for a new loan at another bank if you so choose.

During the 5 or 7 years period of your ARM, you are also able to lock in at a lower rate if the rate does indeed go down. There is a fee for this, however, substantially lower than at a normal brick and mortar bank. Also, when you reset the rate, it does not reset the loan term back to 30 years. So you are indeed paying it down quicker.

This post in not intended to try to convince anyone to use ing for their mortgage. I just wanted to point out that in certain circumstances people may want a lower rate period in order to help pay down the principal, etc.

I have been reading on the Dis for over 11 years now. I finally came out of lurking....

 

[Muushka]

I have been reading on the Dis for over 11 years now. I finally came out of lurking....

Welcome!

 

[MarthaJr.]

Thanks for your opinions everyone. I'm still mulling it over. We plan to stay in the house another 3-4 years and sell when our youngest graduates high school and goes off to college.

I was really hoping someone on these boards had gone through the whole process with ING as I was interested in how smooth the process was.

 

[morgan98]

I guess I should have been clearer in my reply. My mortgage is currently with ING. We purchased a new home 3.5 years ago with the traditional ARM (the one without the balloon payment). We loved the experience. It was much easier and less complicated than our previous mortgage experiences. It was all done electronically through scanning them required documents. Please note that they require 20-25% downpayment or equity in your home to even be considered, depending on what loan you go with. There focus was the downpayment, our credit scores and income verification. The process was made even easier as we have had savings accounts with them for 6 years now and they could see where our downpayment was coming from.

We also refinanced with them a year ago, to lock in an even lower rate for another five years. The process took all of 15 minutes.

The fees they charged for both the original mortgage and the refinance were unbeleivably low compared to what we were finding with other banks. We have been nothing but happy with them.

I also recommended ING to a co-worker and he was very satisfied with the experience as well.

 

[Swimalie]

We did an ING 5 year ARM about 8 years ago. At that time the rate was 3.9% and we were living in our house in Oregon and had been for a little over a year. The process of refinancing was easy with them. They did all the paperwork needed and came to the house for the final signings. The process was nice and seamless. As someone else said, with the ING Orange Mortgage, it has a cap on the maximum rate it will become. For us, year 6 would be no higher than 4.9%, year 7 was 5.9% and the total maximum was 9%.

For us, though we ended up moving across the country about 3.5 years after we got the loan with ING and ended up getting a traditional 30 year on our new house. I've considered the ARM again but with this house and the fact that we've lost $150k in value since buying (thanks DC housing market! ) we're stuck with this house for a while and with the fixed interest.

So, if you think you won't be in the house for long, I would go for it. ING is a great company to work with.