Refinancing a home loan can offer a number of advantages in certain situations, but it can also be risky and it is possible to loose money if you are not careful. It is also not free, as it is necessary to pay closing costs, similar to those paid when the mortgage was first taken out. Knowing when to refinance and when not to is therefore extremely important.
Typically, the golden rule in the real estate industry is that you should wait until the interest rate is at least 2% lower than your current rate before refinancing. It was often referred to as the 2% rule and was touted by most financial professionals, with the belief that this was the point where the savings outweigh the costs of refinancing.
However, today, most financial advisors will not recommend that you follow the 2% rule, primarily because the math simply does not add up. It certainly works well for the lenders, but it does not help the consumer.
Instead of only focusing on interest rates, it is instead essential to take into account the closing costs associated with the loan. This includes not only whatever points you are paying the lender and their application fee, but also an appraisal, credit report, title insurance, and attorney fees.
As an example of how to evaluate whether refinancing lets say that under the new loan, your interest rate would be $50 less a month and the closing costs would be $9,000.
To determine if you should refinance, divide the closing costs by the amount saved in monthly payments. This will tell you the break even point, or when you will recoup your closing costs.
$9,000 / $50 = 180
So, in 180 months or 15 years, you would break even. This makes it easy to see that refinancing is not such a good idea.
Now, lets say that your closing costs are only $4000 and you save $100 a month.
$4,000 / 100 = 40.
So, in 40 months or 3.3 years, you would break even. This is much more acceptable, because this means that after three years, you will have saved more than your closing costs and will end up dramatically reducing the amount of interest you pay.
There is no set limit of when the break even point is right and when it is wrong. A great deal of this depends on the income, assets, and personal situation of the lender. However, usually if the break even point is less than 4 years(48 months) it is generally a good investment.
The above examples described when to refinance the interest rate, but sometimes it is a good idea to refinance the term. The term refers to the total length of the loan and is usually 30 or 15 years, although lenders offer mortgages of almost any term.
Generally, shorter terms mean a lower monthly mortgage payment and longer terms means a lower monthly payment. However, even though you are paying more each month with a shorter term, the amount of interest paid is almost always lower.
For example, consider a home that is $100,000. If you were to take out a 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 4.5%, your monthly payments would be $506 and you would pay $82,406 in interest over the course of the 30 years.
If, on the other hand, you took out a 15 year loan with that same interest rate, the monthly payment would be $764, but the interest would be only $37,698.
As a result of the dramatic effect lowering the length of your term can have on the total amount of interest paid over the course of the loan, it is sometimes a very prudent investment.
Often, many people will refinance their loan after about 5 or 10 years, to a shorter term, thereby saving a great deal of money.
In the past, when it came time to evaluate a prospective loan applicant, a very personal approach was taken, with a human manually reviewing the loan application. Today, almost all lenders now use an automated underwriting system(AUS.)
The AUS automatically reviews and evaluates the loan application and credit history of the applicant, as well as the total amount of the requested loan, using a mathematical formula to determine eligibility. The entire process only takes a few seconds and it either does not approves the loan or marks it as a Strong File or Weak File. A Strong File indicates that the application meets the loan requirements and does not require any additional documentation. A weak file, on the other hand, indicates that there were some discrepancies or problems with the application, so more documentation is required.
For example, someone with a strong file, might not need to provide any employment documentation or tax forms, while someone with a weak file would.
While the loss of a personal touch in the underwriting process definitely has negative connotations, one of the nice things about using an AUS is that initially, there is often no need to provide any documentation.
Depending on how the Automated Underwriting System evaluates the application, there are three basic levels of documentation: Full Documentation, Stated Documentation, and No Documentation.
Full Documentation loans will require that all aspects of the application are verified by a third party. Generally, this means providing tax forms, such as the past few years W2s and paycheck stubs. The lender may also require that the applicants bank verifies the loan using a Verification of Deposit(VOD) form. Typically, the full documentation loan is the most common type of refinance loan.
Stated Documentation loans are when the lender simply uses the information that is provided on the loan application, without actually verifying it with a third party.
No Documentation loans, as the name implies, are loans that require no documentation. The lender does not request any banking or employment information, as well as not running a credit report.
In some cases, the consumer does has some control over how much documentation they provide. Of course, from a literal standpoint, they are free to provide no documentation at all, but the lender is under no obligation to offer a loan in this case. Instead, it is almost always up to the lender to determine how they will document the mortgage application.
With that said, some lenders do offer a no documentation loan, but they will usually require a 20% down-payment and the mortgage will have a higher interest rate.
In the end, the lender is out to make money, so while they may be willing to forgive a minor digression on ones credit report, they will only do this if they think it is profitable. Anytime they do accept a risk, such as not checking employment, the lender will usually increase fees or rates to counterbalance this risk.
In the United States, Bankruptcy is used as a last resort when a borrower is unable to pay back their creditors. There are several different types of bankruptcy, but most people either declare Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is most often used, focuses on the liquidation of the debtors assets. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, on the other hand, deals more with the reorganization of the debt. However, with both of these types of bankruptcy, the debtor can usually retain some of their property.
While in some cases, bankruptcy is the only option, it can have a very negative affect on a persons credit rating. Typically, for the next 7 to 10 years, the individual will have a very low credit score, which makes borrowing money very difficult.
This article discusses how to refinance a home after bankruptcy, although the information provided can also be applied to anyone who wishes to refinance their home. Even though many types of loans, like a new car loan, can be very hard for someone who has declared bankruptcy to get, refinancing a home is often not viewed as a large risk by mortgage lenders. So, even if you have declared bankruptcy, it is usually possible to refinance your mortgage.
Most people decide to refinance their mortgage in an effort to get a lower interest rate and a lower monthly payment. In the case of someone who has filed bankruptcy, it is not uncommon to have a subprime mortgage, which can have excessive rate increases, higher interest rates, and unfavorable terms. As a result, refinancing your home can often be the best way to save money and stay in your home.
It is important to note, however, that when you refinance your home, you are basically starting from scratch with your new lender. Over the course of the first few years of a mortgage, you are primarily paying the interest of the loan. Over time, the amount of interest you are paying will decrease, while the amount that you are paying towards the principal will increase.
As an example, lets consider a home that costs $200,000. In the first three years of your mortgage, you might pay $50,000 to your lender, but only $3,000 goes towards the cost of the home. So, after 3 years, you would still owe $197,000 towards the home. Over the next three years, you may pay $9,000 towards the principal and as time goes on, the amount that goes towards principal increases. If you were to refinance your home after only 3 years, you would be refinancing it for basically the full amount, even though you have paid your lender $50,000.
This is important to remember, because a big part of refinancing your home involves determining whether it is in your best interests to do it in the first place.
The first step when preparing to refinance your home should be to begin setting aside some money every month. When you refinance a mortgage, you will usually have to pay a number of different fees, including an application fee and a loan origination fee.
These fees are often called junk fees, because they do not actually go towards the mortgage itself or the value of the home. In many cases, junk fees can cost several thousand dollars, so it is a good idea begin saving money as early as possible.
It is also important to determine if your current mortgage has a penalty for paying the mortgage off early. Some mortgages, especially subprime mortgages, have a pre-payment penalty, which goes into affect if you pay your home off early. If this is the case, you will need to take this into account.
Before you begin shopping around for a new mortgage, it is also very important to analyze your monthly expenses and compare these with your monthly income. This is important because you need to get an idea of what type of monthly mortgage payment you can afford.
It is important to take into account all of your monthly expenses, including utilities, phone bills, car payments, food, and any other living expenses you may have. Also, make sure that you include any outstanding debt, such as credit card bills, as well as emergency bills that may occur.
Getting an idea of the current mortgage rates is essential, even if you have poor credit or have filed bankruptcy. You can use these figures to help decide whether a particular lender is offering you a fair interest rate or if they are offering a subprime mortgage.
Begin by calling around to several of your local banks to find out what the current mortgage rates are. At this time, don’t mention the details of your situation, but simply inquire as to what the current mortgage rate is. It is also a good idea to consult some online lenders as well, who usually have their basic interest rates posted on their website.
Once you have an idea of the current mortgage rates, you can start to get estimates for refinancing your home, as a number of lenders to provide a pre-qualification letter with their rates. The lender will ask you for your financial information, but they should not actually run your credit or charge you any fees for the written estimate.
At this point, it is imperative that you are upfront and honest with the lender. Lying about your bankruptcy or your credit score, might get a higher estimate, but when they actually run your credit, they will find out you were lying and will not offer you the same rate. In the end, you are only wasting your own time, as well as that of your lender, which can often disqualify you from receiving the loan anyway. Instead, honestly answer their questions about your income and bring up the fact that you have filed for bankruptcy.
Make sure that you also ask about the cost of refinancing your mortgage, such as attorney fees, application fees, and any other charges that the lender might have.
It is a good idea to check the rates of a multiple lenders, so you can explore all of your options.
Once you have a number of estimates, you can begin comparing the different loans to find the one that best fits your needs. Start by comparing the interest rates offered to the standard interest rates that you found in step 3. This will give you an idea of whether the interest rate is normal or if it is subprime.
Next, compare the cost of refinancing your home against the cost of keeping your existing mortgage. It is essential not just consider the difference between the monthly payments, but also the cost of the junk fees and any pre-payment penalties associated with your current mortgage. For instance, if your monthly payment is $100 less on the new mortgage, but you have to pay $3,000 in junk fees, then it would take you almost 3 years before you break even on the mortgage. Remember, that the junk fees are due at the time of signing.
It is also important to look at the big picture. An amortization table can be very handy, which will break down every payment over the course of the loan to show you how much of it is going towards interest and how much towards principal. It is important to compare where you are with your current loan and where you would be if you refinanced your mortgage.
After you have carefully considered all of your options and decided upon a lender, it is a good idea to try to get your lender to reduce the junk fees. These fees can often be reduced with a little negotiation and are often padded just for this reason.
While refinancing your home can be a great way to reduce monthly payments or get out of a subprime loan, it is not a decision that should be taken lightly, especially for those who have filed bankruptcy. Instead, it is important to make sure that refinancing your home is really in your best interest and not just think about the difference in monthly payments.