Mortgage Refinance...where do I start???

[busy mom]

Looking at lowering my interest rate and shortening my term. I have used bizrate.com to find the financial specifics I need, but now what? How do I find out who can give me the best rate/terms,ect???

Has anyone recently had a good experience with a refinance, and if so, who did you go through?

Any tips, lessons learned would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[DianeV]

Do you happen to have an FHA loan? there is an FHA Streamline Refinance program going on right now that is pretty good..

 

[DisneyDebbie]

I refinanced in may 2012. I called all the banks in my local area and chose the one with the lowest rate. I knew we were going to do it, so I had already saved our last paystubs, bank statements, etc. It was pretty easy we shaved $100/month off and decreased 4 years!

 

[GusGus77]

I would recommend calling local places and not fill out a form online for quotes. DH looked online for quotes and started filling out a form (didn't even submit it!) to get a quote and we received tons of phone calls for weeks!

We have our loan through our local credit union. We found we were able to do a modification (rather than a refinance) which did everything a refinance would do, but no closing costs. You may want to check with who you have your current mortgage with and see if modifying is an option.

 

[jkpatrick]

I would start by calling whoever is servicing your loan and see what they can offer. Then start calling/emailing local and/or national banks, lenders. Generally with a national one, it may involve being on hold and talking to someone in a different time zone. With a local one, you can probably go into a branch. Also, ask around, coworkers, friends, see if they have used someone recently. Nothing beats having a recommended person who has great customer service and patience. Especially since they are dealing with you and a lot of money.

Try to get a few quotes, not just one. Good luck!

 

[Swimalie]

We called our current loan office (a bank) and they told us they were too busy to refinance us. So we went with ING and did a 7 year arm (we plan to be out in about 2 years). We started the process Nov 14th and closed 2 days ago. We saved over $250. We've had ING accounts for about 16 years now and love working with them. They also have 5 and 10 year arms if you are interested.

 

[Aliceacc]

Consider working with a mortgage broker. Ours was fabulous!

 

[DawnM]

If you can use any bank you want, I would start with Amerisave and see what they can offer.

We had to be select in who we used due to Dh's working in the finance industry and Amerisave said they just use whoever gives the lowest rate and wouldn't work with us.

We ended up going through First Internet Bank of Indiana. At the time (Oct, 2011) they were offering $1,600 in instant rebates. We ended up paying only the $400 appraisal fee at closing.

FIBI was willing to check with us first to see which bank Dh's firm would allow him to use. We were offered 4 different loans.

We were very happy with them and now have a 3.37% loan for 15 years and had no closing costs other than that $400.

Dawn

 

[Dotsie]

We just refinanced on Thursday. We had an FHA loan originally and it was at 5.8% Our credit union had the lowest rates around. We had to give last 2 years of W2s, our home owners policy, our last mortgage statement, 2 months of pay stubs, and a mortgage payoff letter. It was eally easy and we closed in 3 weeks. We are now saving $350 per month and shaved 4 years off of the life of the mortgage

 

[yankebabie]

When you refinance, do they roll the closing costs into the new mortgage or is it all out of pocket? Also, how much are the closing costs on a refi?

 

[yankebabie]

Sorry, one more question. Is it as difficult to refinance your mortgage as it is to get a new mortgage since the housing crash

 

[yankebabie]

If u start calling around to get interest rates don't they have to run your credit report? And then doesn't having too many inquiries lower your credit score?

 

[rszdtrvl]

We went through our credit union to refinance a couple years ago. Our mortgage is now through BB&T.

When we purchased the house, we had a 30-year mortgage.

We dropped down to a 15 year mortgage, and shaved 8 years off our original mortgage. Our monthly payment did go up $40, and we did have to purchase mortgage insurance, as our remaining balance was more than the value of our home.

 

[emmababy]

There are alot of variables to consider. Your type of loan, loan to value, credit score when determining your interest rate. There ate several programs that don't require appraisals. Also, costs vary by lender. I have been a loan officer for 10 years. Feel free ti message me.

 

[Planogirl]

Check your credit reports if you haven't for a while. Things can pop up. If you have any freezes make sure to lift them at the right time and if you have fraud alerts make sure that the phone numbers are correct.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

When you refinance, do they roll the closing costs into the new mortgage or is it all out of pocket? Also, how much are the closing costs on a refi?

we did roll the closing costs into the refi, I think it was $2000

Sorry, one more question. Is it as difficult to refinance your mortgage as it is to get a new mortgage since the housing crash

It wasn't as difficult to refi, we needed 1 month of paystubs, recent bank statements for all accounts, appraisal appt. to determine value of home, i think that was it!

If u start calling around to get interest rates don't they have to run your credit report? And then doesn't having too many inquiries lower your credit score?

we already knew our credit was excellent so I just asked for their best qualifying quote, and only when we actually applied did they run the check

 

[ICF]

Also, how much are the closing costs on a refi?

Depends where you go...I've paid less than $300 on my last 3 refi's.