As if you don’t know already mortgage rates have hit a record low. Rates on a fixed rate, 30 year mortgage are running about 5%, some as low as 4.25%!
The catch is to qualify you have to be either a “well-qualified”buyer, or “well-qualified”homeowner. The frustrating thing is this does not help many people who are up to there ears in mortgage debt. I hold out hope that the new administration will be able to offer more help for consumers, not just major corporations.
We are currently in the process of refinancing. I sent in our info to our Credit Union, Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, and I’m working with an awesome loan officer there. We’re just waiting to see if the rates drop a bit further before we lock in. I tried contacting our current lender, Wells Fargo, and after 4(!) days they finally got back to me while we were out today. So while some time has been eaten up on this over the last week (while I was nursing my sick little one), Monday will likely be devoted to calling Wells Fargo back, and finding out what they can offer. Since my local credit union is willing to match whatever WF offers, I’ll likely go with them. The customer service is stellar, and I like supporting local businesses anyway, so this is just another step in that direction.
The best part is a mistake on our credit report around the time of our home loan cost us a lower interest rate, (we followed standard advice, and checked our credit reports but it showed up the month after we checked it and takes 3 months to disappear) so we’ll be making up for it now. We should see a return on the closing costs in 9-10 months, and we’ll be saving in the neighborhood of $300-400/month!
Make sure to call your current lender as they may be willing to do a “rate drop”for you for free or little cost. If they won’t consider taking your business elsewhere!
For more info on rates look here, and if you want to see how long it will take to recoup the costs of refinancing, try this calculator.
If you want to keep track of your credit score try:www.creditkarma.com, and remember you get 3 FREE reports from www.annualcreditreport.com (all other sites are scams!).
Have you refinanced? Are you planning to?
Kelly
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