Refinancing a Mortgage

[TheFarseer]

Since the rates have dropped, I decided to check into refinancing. It would lower my payment and save me interest overall, but I can’t believe the costs. I think I have to give every white collar criminal in the city money to get this done. Why on Earth do I need an appraiser to come over? I took out the Mortgage only 1.5 years ago. How is it fine to have a mortgage for 13.5 more years but I have to get reappraised to have one for 15 more years? I have almost 30% of it paid off so I don’t see how this is necessary. Then I have to pay over $600 for a note from Tempico or something(I don’t have the breakdown in front of me). The bank fees were $1500 and it was an additional $2100 for the rest of the assorted criminals. And this is a bank that I actually trust! What has anyone else done for refinancing?

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. I refinanced with Quicken twice and didn't have to get an appraisal either time.

It was all done over the internet and phone. And I wasn't charged for all those other fees you mentioned either. The fee charged by Quicken was nominal.

The downside is that a few months after refinancing, they sold my loan to Wells Fargo, both times. I would never choose to do business with the criminal at Wells Fargo. But it is my understanding that your mortgage can be sold to any other lender at any time without your permission.

[exboyfil]

2. That is what I like about my refinance

It stayed with my local credit union. Eight years left at 2.75%.

[TheFarseer]

3. My current loan is with Wells Fargo

It was sold to them by the nice people that my bank sold the loan to. I need to look into Quicken. My only issue is I’m hardwired to think anything online is a scam! Did it feel as legit as a bank? and we’re there knowledgeable people to work with? Thanks in advance!

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. Very legit and the folks I talked to at Quicken were very knowledgeable.

If I ever decide to refinance, I will absolutely use Quicken again.

[3Hotdogs]

5. + 1

They've been in business for years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Refinancing is always expensive.

And I think it's far worse when you do it early in the loan period.

In 2009 I took on a 30 year mortgage, at 4.75% interest. I could not afford the larger payment for a shorter mortgage, and so was fine with what I had. Several years later, as interest rates dropped, I did some casual inquiry into refinancing. Every query resulted in costs that made refinancing make no sense.

Recently I did refinance, and I'm almost wondering if I didn't outsmart myself. There were no up front costs to me, I got a 3.75% interest rate, but because the refinance was to roll the cost of my solar panels (yes! I went solar!) into the mortgage, I owe more than I did before. Which I suppose makes sense. And the refinance was for 20 years, the same as the remaining term on the original mortgage. Right now I am able to put $300 additional each month into the mortgage payment, which will take nearly ten years off the term of the loan and save me a boatload of interest.

Perhaps keeping your current mortgage and making extra payments would work for you. Here's a link to a calculator to help figure that out: https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/extra-payment-calculator

If for some reason that doesn't seem to work for you, you can google extra mortgage payments and find other calculators out there.