Anyone Refi?

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Sharon, didn't you have to pay this off in order to refinance? We had an Equity Line of Credit (not at such a great rate) that we're paying off with the refi. I thought that was required for some reason.

No, we didn't. But...our home equity line is also with Chase, and it was frozen last year. Maybe one of those things makes a difference.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

No, we didn't. But...our home equity line is also with Chase, and it was frozen last year. Maybe one of those things makes a difference.

Hmmm, we're refinancing through our credit union, and that's where the equity line is. But, our rate was higher than yours, and also higher than what they're offering now. So, it was to our benefit to pay it off.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Did my refi at 4.875% 25 yr loan. It was a pain but finally got it done. Reduced % rate by 2%.

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

Ok - so you guys have a loan officer in your mist.

Jumbo mortgages are more than $417,000 (for single family homes). Basically - the rates for those have not come down like the conforming (under $417,000) market. That is because the gov't only has their nose in the conforming market right now.

I am in Mass and stats show the states rates are a tiny bit higher than the country for whatever reason.

Lowest 30 year fixed with 0 points 4.75% and with 2 points at 4.25%.
Lowest 15 year fixed with 0 points 4.50% and with 1 point 4.25%.

That is the best that I have seen.

This has been an AWFUL week for rates. Between Wed and Thurs rates increased by over 1/2%. Thankfully they have settled down a bit today.

I have never been a point fan - but this time around might not be a bad idea to consider because if you get a rate in the low 4's then odds are you will never refinance again. (not recommended if you plan on paying off the mortgage or selling in the next few years).

For those of you with jumbo loans - don't waste your time shopping the big banks, mortgage brokers, etc. Try to find a small local bank or credit union that portfolios their loans - you will have a better chance of getting a low rate that way. Or, if you can always piggy back loans. Say you have $500,000 in mortgages. Take a $417,000 refinance for the good rates and the put the rest on some sort of home equity product. (for the person that just refinanced with Chase - must be conforming. We use them and they are well over 7% for jumbo loans right now).

For the person that questioned about rolling in a home equity or not.....

No, it is not a mortgage requirement that you payoff your home equity loans/lines when you refinace. For the people that are told they have to....one of two things.

1. The lender you are working with can't be bothered to go through the entire subordination process. We have to send your current home equity lender a ton of documentation in order for them to subordinate (hold second lein position) on your title. It is a pain and some lenders just don't want to deal with it.

2. Most loan officers are paid commissions based on the loan amount. The more you borrow - the higher the commission. Thus, an incentive to tell people they have to roll in the home equity.

Rolling in home equity balances are ok to do sometimes and not others. If you have a small home equity balance that you will probably pay off in a few years - don't roll it and end up paying for it for 15 or 30 years. (unless of course you need the monthly payment savings, then do what you have to do).

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I am still in the process of collecting the same info from ten lenders, some more anxious than others, so I realized don't have much to report.

A different person from Quicken.loans called, as if they had not contacted me yet, and she is using a better tact. In fact, she just called again and gave me figures.

I am feeling 30 year rates are at 5 1/2%, 15 is at 5%, and you can buy down from there. Costs appear to be running anywhere from $2000 to $6500.

[Pat H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pat H]

I did a refi in Feb. on my new retirement home that I bought in Nov. Had to go thru the developer to get all the incentives. Rate was 6.5%. The new rate is 4.625% for 30yrs. Had to pay 1/2 point since it was a second home.

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

I refi'd a couple months ago. Wasn't going to since I'd just refinanced an ARM a little over a year ago so that it wouldn't go up to 7.5%. I knew I could get a little lower than the ~5.8 I was at, but didn't want to pay closing costs again. Then, I got a letter from a regional bank here who offered to refinance with no closing costs to a 5.1% rate. It was the real deal, so I took it.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I looked again at the ones I've gotten so far and there is a 4.75% for 15 years that it appears has no points.

I won't really know until I run back through them all and pin everyone down.

Rates are fluctuating day-to-day along with the bond market.

[garyd210 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close garyd210]

HELOC(home equity line of credit)

Hi! 9 months ago I heard about Third Federal S&L(Columbus, Ohio I believe) on Yahoo with an offer at prime. While I realize rates change very quickly, I am currently paying prime on my HELOC and locked in a deal for .51% under a $50k balance and 1.01& over the $50k amount. Right now I'm paying off my $22k balance at 2.74% on a $75k HELOC. No closing fees/costs....zip! I don't have any other mortgage. I went to just about every lender in my California town to see if anyone would match or come close and couldn't find any. Last time I checked their website, I didn't see the HELOC with any additional discounted interest for up to $50k, but was .26%(2.99%) when balance was over $50k. They're at Mortgages, Home Equity Lines of Credit and Deposits: Third Federal Savings and Loan and have been pleased with them so far. Gary

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Hi! 9 months ago I heard about Third Federal S&L(Columbus, Ohio I believe) on Yahoo with an offer at prime. While I realize rates change very quickly, I am currently paying prime on my HELOC and locked in a deal for .51% under a $50k balance and 1.01& over the $50k amount. Right now I'm paying off my $22k balance at 2.74% on a $75k HELOC. No closing fees/costs....zip! I don't have any other mortgage. I went to just about every lender in my California town to see if anyone would match or come close and couldn't find any. Last time I checked their website, I didn't see the HELOC with any additional discounted interest for up to $50k, but was .26%(2.99%) when balance was over $50k. They're at Mortgages, Home Equity Lines of Credit and Deposits: Third Federal Savings and Loan and have been pleased with them so far. Gary

Hmmm..I wonder if you can refinance a HELOC independent of your mortgage (assuming you have a mortgage, which we do).

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

Hmmm..I wonder if you can refinance a HELOC independent of your mortgage (assuming you have a mortgage, which we do).

Yes, you can leave your current mortgage alone and just refinance the HELOC or Fixed Home Equity loan into another Home Equity product. Can't do it to a first mortgage because you already have one.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Yes, you can leave your current mortgage alone and just refinance the HELOC or Fixed Home Equity loan into another Home Equity product. Can't do it to a first mortgage because you already have one.

So how does one find a fixed interest rate home equity loan product that would have an interest rate way comparable to what I'm paying now for variable, which is around 2%? (Probably not possible..but thought I would ask!)

[mdurette Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mdurette]

So how does one find a fixed interest rate home equity loan product that would have an interest rate way comparable to what I'm paying now for variable, which is around 2%? (Probably not possible..but thought I would ask!)

I believe it will be hard to even find anything below 6.00%. Especially for a long term 15-30 years.


On a similar note:
Those of you with mortgages that you might payoff in less than 5 years. Consider moving that over to a HELOC. Find one with no floor on the interest rate and with a rate prime minus something.

Example:
You find a HELOC with no floor and a rate of prime minus 1/2%. That would put the rate at 2.75% right now. For your rate to even hit 5.00% the prime needs to increase from 3.25% to 5.50%. This movement is not going to come overnight. I would be willing to bet that it would be low for at least 3 years....enough time to payoff the mortgage in full or at least a large portion of it.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

It's not a done deal, but we now have 8 sets of GFEs. We don't care about interest rates; we're looking at payment amount and cost (want the highest net to us).

Loan amount is $115000. The best combination for 30 years is a payment of $626.16 and a net to us of $112588.53. The best combination for 15 years is a payment of 894.51 and a net to us of $112600.34.

The highest payments are $719 for 30 years and $986 for 15 years. The lowest net to us is $108400 for 30 years and $110,234 for 15 years.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Well, that was 16 days ago.

Beware . . .

I answered every question and sent everything they wanted, twice. I spent beaucoup hours preparing financial records, tax returns, insurance stuff, etc. Then they just stopped answering emails and phone calls.

The guy promised twice there would be no surprises!!!

" 6/2/09 10:35:52 AM Central Daylight Time
Sent from the Internet (Details)
I was in a meeting all morning so sorry about the delay. There will be NO surprises! I am a man of my word."
There hasn't been anything that is not a surprise so far.

The manager is handling it personally now and I just downloaded 29 pages of crap from him . . . and the figures are worse.

But, I'm entertaining the others again, or may just start over.

I don't feel very good about sending our financial records to a bunch of jackoffs.