I just refinanced an already existing loan at a lower interest rate. I was charged 3.3 points and then at closing got socked with $1K closing costs. Oh- I repeatedly requested a good faith estimate during this four month process and never got one. I put "under protest" to all the fees that were no disclosed. We will see what the fallout from that and rporting to the OCC and RESPA violations are. Do not go with Chase- with their for telling of re-selling the mortgage- I put "please". They are awful.

Is there anyone out there who is trying to refinance or modify their present ARM loan and is running into the problem of income to debt ratio. I am in an adjustable rate mortgage and would like to refinance my loan. everyone I have gone to is turning me down because I had to recently buy a new car to get to and from work and that car is now a problem with me refinancing my home. my credit score is well over 600 and if it were not for this car I could refinance. does anyone out there have any advice on companies that will allow me to refinance my home?

I have a been a mortgage brokr for 25 years. 90% of my business is referral. I never was in or believed in the subprime market. All my loans I charge an origination fee but never discount points. The origination is my fee. I also give the best interest rate. If a loan officer is not charging an origination than they are charging you a higher rate that is paying them back their fee.

I'm in California and trying to find a 7-year mortgage like Clark has been talking about. I've only been able to find one at his credit union in Atlanta. Does anyone know where someone in California can get a 7-year mortgage (pay off in seven years...not an ARM)?

Clark has been very helpful, as always. Unfortunately, his recommendation of HSH.com has been a disappointment. Each of the three lendors that I selected from their list quoted rates that were significantly higher than those published on the HSH site. No way to start a relationship with a new lendor.

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com for a free credit report. See what has changed - especially if you just opened up a new account. That could ding your credit scores.

As a 16 year veteran loan officer, you need to be aware of several items. First, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (conventional loans) made adjustments to your final rate over a year ago based on your credit score (< 740 mid credit score)and loan-to-value (LTV) (from 60% LTV to 97% LTV). It starts at .5 to 2.75 discount points that can significantly affect your final rate! Paying closing costs depends on how long you keep your loan and a simple amortization schedule can tell you when you will break even. Declining values have forced some people into mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance automatically drops at 78% LTV or sooner if you challenge it with your lender and may make sense over the long run. If you don't pay origination, your rate will be slightly higher - your choice, not Clark's. If you get a 15 year mortgage, you will pay off financed closing costs usually within 8 months. A good reason not to do a no closing cost loan on anything less than a 15 year mortgage (Christa). Quoting rates has been difficult with the extremeley volatile rates over the last year. If you call one lender in the morning and another in the afternoon, your rates can vary significantly. Set up a range with your loan officer that makes sense for you - by the time you get back to them, your low rate can vanish! A competant loan officer can qualify you for free and the lowest rate you qualify for at that moment could be gone minutes later. If your lender advertises, you are probably paying for it in higher rates and or higher fees. FHA and VA are excellent ways to finance homes. FHA streamline refi's can allow you to refi without a job, no credit scoring and no appraisal with no adj. to your rate if you already have an FHA loan. About half of all mortgage brokers cannot do FHA or VA loans. This is probably the biggest reason that some loan officers put people into suprime loans when they could have easily qualified with an FHA loan. If you are over 62 and have equity in your home, a Reverse Mortgage can eliminate your monthly mortgage payment and may be able to allow additional monthly income. The Fed will be buying up to $500 billion in mortgage backed securities (mbs). This can help push rates down but remember that current mbs holders sell into the Fed's buying and push rates back up - just like stocks. I find it interesting that clients seem to be able to predict interest rates but can't predict the high and low of a stock. Make sure your loan officer educates you when making your decsions. If they don't, they probably don't know as much as they claim. I could go on...but won't. Thanks, Dan.

We tried to refinance our home but snce the value went down it would cost us about $26,000, no thanks.

I locked in last Friday at 4.375 for 30 years!!!!!

Hey Folks,

Check out mtgprofessor.com. Jack M. Guttentag is a professor at Wharton School of businesss, so he educates you rather than trying to sell.

Good Luck.

I've used Lending Tree many times with great success. You will receive a few quotes. Take the information and compare and negotiate with the company/sales person you feel comfortable with. Last year I got 4.875 for 15 yrs, figured it would take me 2.5 yrs to recoup cost and that's worth it.

Every one should read JW's comment(reply to jo ann). It's true accurate info which can't be said for most of the other post and I can assure you that Donald is not going to get what he says or thinks he's getting unless he's paying 15K in closing costs. It is possible to get a low rate w/o points or origination fee. You just charge the borrower a $5000.00 processing fee and a $5000.00 admin fee. It's a way slick loan officers hide the points. Oh yes and you don't have to pay a penny out of pocket - they just add it onto your loan balance. Its a very foolish and unwise thing to do and takes years to recoup the costs if ever. Your losing more money than if you didn't refi at all. Hope you got a rate lock guarantee and a Good Faith Estimate (GFE)in writing signed and dated by the loan officer Donald. lol

Associated Credit Union has rates 4.5 - 4.35 for 15 year mortgage

As a former mortgage loan officer with a highly reputable company (BBB complaint-free, winner of state awards, etc.), the issue of the points associated with your "SMALL" mortgage is normal. Simply put, small mortgages are harder to sell in what is called the secondary market. When your loan gets sold (and over 90% of all loans are sold at some point), the servicing companies are making relatively less money on the small mortgages (same amount of overhead, less interest.) As a result, smaller mortgages often take a little "sweetening of the pot" to make them more desirable for an investor like Chase or Bank of America who are now the big boys in mortgage loan servicing. In my area, any mortgage below $100,000 had extra fees and it was a sliding scale (the smaller the mortgage, the higher the fees.) It varies somewhat by area due to the cost of housing. Think of lower fees for larger mortgages (until you get to Jumbo mortgages) as volume discounts because basically, that's what they are. Most people have no idea how many people need to be paid from every mortgage. There's the loan officer, processor, underwriter, rate lock department, closing department (prepares the final closing documents for the title/escrow company), post-closing department (handles various legal filings and follow-up to ensure loan closed properly and legally), compliance (to ensure government regulations were followed), and quality assurance (makes sure the loan is sellable to the secondary market.) That's eight entities (usually about a dozen people) within each company who come in contact with each loan file. This, of course, doesn't include the other office personnel such as receptionists, accounting, financial analysts who study and price the mortgages based on the secondary and financial markets, management, etc. Long story short is that most people have no clue how much overhead has to be paid for from every loan.

With the fees, do wth the math with either paying the fees or paying a higher rate with reduced fees. Your loan officer should be able to easily provide you with a written Good Faith Estimate (it doesn't have to be the formal version, an Excel version is fine for now.) Usually, unless you plan on staying in your place for many years to come, paying fees/points doesn't make sense as getting to a break-even through the reduced payment from a lower rate can easily take five years or more (often much more) to pay yourself back for the out-of-pocket costs of the fees/points. Get the full and itemized picture from your loan officer and make your decision from there.

I was quoted 5.0% and 1.75 points to refi a SMALL mortgage, resulting in many $$$ added to the total cost ( My FICO is close to 800). It will take 5+years to recoup this. Does this make sense to anyone??!! Who (what company) has a better rate?

Refinancing, taking $18,000 cash out to remodel, 10-year loan, 4.75% rate with 1.25% points rolled into the loan for a total closing costs of $5,000. Is this reasaonable?

Donald where did you get that rate? I'm constantly looking for a refi to a 15 year, but haven't snagged that great rate you got. Thanks.

My mortgage company is offering 5% with no closing and 4.625 with 1% closing. Is this fairly typical to pay closing with lower rate? I would rather pay no closing, but even at 1% I will recoup in 9 months and save thousands in interest over the term. Advice?

I locked my 30 yr refi at 4.818 this week from 6.625% six years ago, I live in Ohio.
Clark doesn't want you to throw credit card debt onto a refi because you would be turning non-secured debt into secured debt.

i tried the mortgage rate calculator recommend by clark howard on www.truecredit.com
it was a WASTE of $10 do not bother, rates are no where near what the mortgage broker is talking with us about....

oh, it's a 0/0 loan too......!

If the lender or broker is giving you a loan that they are not being compensated for (par rate), then 1% origination is standard. I guess Clark expects the loan officer to work for free.

Clark says not to roll other debts into the loan. But doesnt explain. If I have an 8% home equity loan or 16% credit card debt, wouldnt it make sense to refi?