Lowest. Rates. EVER.

**brenda67** · 12-04-2009, 08:10 PM

Thanks...so how much lower would
My payment be at the 5 percent or lower?

**craftypam** · 12-04-2009, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by rcannon

It depends. There are variable rate HELOCS, mine is currently at 3.25% and there are fixed rates.

Use the calculator here> http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/...alculator.aspx

Put in your new mortgage and check your payments.

NOTE: Don't just look at your monthly payments folks. Look at the TOTAL amount you would pay that includes interest and compare what you would pay if you stayed with your current mortgage.

I actually finished out my mortgage with a fixed heloc.

**frugalwarrior2** · 12-04-2009, 11:18 PM

This all kills me. We are at 7.% but only have 46,700 left. 4 more years. All these plans and rates and incentives and we can't finds a way to benefit.
Maybe be we should consolidate our debt and go back up to a ten year. Watcha think Greebo??? We could pay for the kids college w/ the money we take out.

**Greebo** · 12-05-2009, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by brenda67

Thanks...so how much lower would
My payment be at the 5 percent or lower?

I don't know - I need to know what the balance on your mortgage is and your current payment.

**Greebo** · 12-05-2009, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by frugalwarrior2

This all kills me. We are at 7.% but only have 46,700 left. 4 more years. All these plans and rates and incentives and we can't finds a way to benefit.
Maybe be we should consolidate our debt and go back up to a ten year. Watcha think Greebo??? We could pay for the kids college w/ the money we take out.

If you go to a 5, for example, on 46,700, vs. a 7, you'll save about 900 a year on interest.

Do you *really* want me to tell you what I think about consolidation? Really? I've got my head slapping stick ready...

**NikoSan999** · 12-05-2009, 11:21 AM

Consolidation.....then it starts all over again...and again...

**craftypam** · 12-05-2009, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by frugalwarrior2

This all kills me. We are at 7.% but only have 46,700 left. 4 more years. All these plans and rates and incentives and we can't finds a way to benefit.
Maybe be we should consolidate our debt and go back up to a ten year. Watcha think Greebo??? We could pay for the kids college w/ the money we take out.

You should look into a fixed heloc. The interest rate was cheaper than mortgages and no closing costs.

**scottp999** · 12-05-2009, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by miaumiau

Too bad my bank won't consider a refinance if the mortgage principal is less than $100k. 5% sounds a lot better than 6.25%.

I ran into this earlier in the year when an advertised rate was about 4.75. They would only honor it for mortgages of 400k or larger. My 100k was good for 75 basis points higher, 5.25 which made it a non started since my rate was already 5.5.

** Edit - There were a few days this year where the rate hit 4.5, but you had to be religous about calling at least 2 times per day to find it before it was gone.

**scottp999** · 08-17-2010, 04:16 PM

Bumping this topic since rates have hit a new low the last couple of days. Something to consider. I did lock in 4.5 on a 30yr today and was offered 3.875 on a 15. Do your calculations and take advantage if you can.

0 points, they waived the appraisal fee and the total closing costs were 2k. I can pay that 2k with a principal only payment as soon as the new loan is setup on the servicing system.

**nodmicks** · 08-18-2010, 10:35 AM

Thanks Greebo! I don't watch the rates. I just checked on a 10 year ~ 3.9% fixed at our CU. Since we are staying 5-6 more years it looks from the numbers like it pays off even if our mortgage is not big

Our CU is also running a promotion that with any loan of 10k or more you get a $200 credit on your account or a $200 gift card so that actually reduces the closing to $800!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 08-18-2010, 10:44 AM

Just when they lower rates in the US, they raise them here.

We're planning on a variable rate mortgage considering the fixed rate's at least a full percent and a half higher than what we're locked in for now.

**Telephus44** · 08-18-2010, 03:48 PM

Actually, there's a local bank near us offering a "pay off your house" mortgage with loans from 3 years to 7 years. Rates start at 3.875. Would be great if you only had a few years left on the mortgage. I was actually glad to see a bank offering a product that promoted responbile financial habits!

We re-fi'd in March 09 from 6.5 to 5%. I'm glad we did it when we did - rates are a little lower now, but I know my house wouldn't appraise for nearly as much as it did then.

**wjcalderon** · 08-24-2010, 09:35 AM

I'm in the process of refinancing right now.
Called 3 different lenders until I got something I was happy with.
Current mortgage rate is 4.875 (just over 9 years remaining) - HELOC is 4.25 (variable).
Combining the 2 and refinancing at 3.875 for 10 years.
Doesn't save much on the current mortgage, but fixes the HELOC rate - I'm sure it would go up before I could get it paid off.

**scottp999** · 08-27-2010, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by wjcalderon

I'm in the process of refinancing right now.
Called 3 different lenders until I got something I was happy with.
Current mortgage rate is 4.875 (just over 9 years remaining) - HELOC is 4.25 (variable).
Combining the 2 and refinancing at 3.875 for 10 years.
Doesn't save much on the current mortgage, but fixes the HELOC rate - I'm sure it would go up before I could get it paid off.

Excellent - congrats. I stretched into a new 30yr at 4.5. I'm still paying lots of extra principal to pay it off in about 5 years, but the purpose of the refi was to reduce the P&I payment in case of future job loss. If I lose my job, I will return to the minimum payment and burn through savings at a slower rate than if I had not refi'd.

It takes a good amount of dicipline to send in that extra principal payment each month instead of buyng something fun.

**Pianolady** · 08-31-2010, 05:20 PM

We finally couldn't resist and refinanced from 6% to 4.375% fixed, and took out a 25 year instead of 30 year mortgage. We were 5 years into our original mortgage, so we figured it was a good idea to take a shorter loan period to get a slightly better rate. I wanted so bad to cut it down to 15 years to get the 3.8% rate, but the payment was too high. Plan to pay off early, send in extra principal each month, just like we were doing with our original mortgage.

One thing to watch out for is POINTS...some banks were charging points....just say NO & shop around. I called the bank next door, and there were no points, and closing costs were low by comparison (pay in cash closing costs if you can/don't roll into the loan).