Refinancing

WISCONSIN HOMEOWNERSHIP PRESERVATION EDUCATION Refinancing

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Refinancing

People refinance their homes to take advantage of lower

interest rates or to decrease their monthly payment. Sometimes

it is done to create extra money for purchases (like a car) or for

debt repayment. This type of “cash-out refinance” adds to the

total debt and increases the time and cost of repaying the loan.

And if your credit score is low, lenders will consider you a higher

credit risk and charge you a higher interest rate.

While mortgage payments are often thought of in terms of the “principal” initial amount you’re

borrowing, interest payments on the principal can dramatically increase the amount you’re paying in

Refinancing may be an important step in your retirement plan. As you think about the age you want to

retire and the fact that you will likely have a fixed income at that point, you may want to look into ways

to pay off your mortgage before retirement.

Section Overview

Overview and Goals

To Refinance or Not to Refinance

The homeowner can save money

Change the term or payout period

of your mortgage

The break-even point

Cash out refinance

WISCONSIN HOMEOWNERSHIP PRESERVATION EDUCATION Refinancing

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Refinancing

Overview and Goals

Some families inadvertently pay thousands and thousands of dollars beyond what they could have if

they had taken the proper time to refinance their loan. On the flip side, while refinancing may seem like

a sure bet to save money, there are some major considerations to think through as to whether you will

be able to break even on the loan. This chapter pulls from pages 69-67 of the Keeping the American

Dream, 2

Edition curriculum developed by NeighborWorks America to outline the thought process that

should go into this task.

The goals of this chapter are:

1. To illustrate the hidden costs that interest adds to a mortgage payment.

2. To explain how refinancing can save homeowners money.

3. To explain some of the fees associated with refinancing.

Take-away messages:

1. Over the course of a loan, you will pay much more than you originally borrowed.

2. Refinancing a loan can save you a lot of money on interest that you will not have to pay.

WISCONSIN HOMEOWNERSHIP PRESERVATION EDUCATION Refinancing

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Refinancing

To Refinance or Not to Refinance

Adapted from Keeping the American Dream by NeighborWorks America:

Why would anyone want to refinance their home mortgage? The short answer is: “it may make

financial sense.” If you hear that interest rates are going down, you may want to consider

refinancing your loan. The general rule is: If the new loan results in at least a 1 percent, and

preferably a 2 percent decrease in your interest rate, then refinancing may be worth

considering.

When do you think a 1 percent to 2 percent decrease in your interest rate might not be a good

idea?

Let’s explore some of the reasons why homeowners consider refinancing their current home

mortgage. Do keep in mind that refinancing means requalifying. It was no picnic the first time—

it’s not much easier this go-round.

The homeowner can save money

How? If a homeowner is currently paying a mortgage with an 8 percent interest rate, and they

can get a new mortgage with an interest rate of 6 percent, then it appears that they would save

money.

Let’s see how much by doing the math. We’ll need a “mortgage calculator.” Using one on the

Internet may be easiest. Look at the example below and follow these steps:

1. Put in the amount of your loan

2. The term (30-year note), and finally,

3. The interest rate. After you make the calculation for each interest rate, look at the

difference in payment.

Current Mortgage Refinanced Mortgage

Mortgage Amount $100,000 $100,000

Term 30 year 30 year

Interest Rate 8% 6%

Monthly Payment $733.76 $599.55

How much would you save monthly by refinancing their loan? Let’s do the math:

$733.76 - $599.55 = $134.21/month

That is a significant monthly savings! The savings of $134.21 each month are funds that could be

used in a number of ways such as building an emergency fund for house repairs. After all, the

paint job on the outside of the house won’t last forever. Neither will the roof or the appliances.

It is a good idea to start saving a small amount over a long period of time so that you will have a

“rainy day” fund when it is time to replace these items. The amount of savings could also go

toward saving for a car, reducing credit card balances or many other things. Over a 12-month

WISCONSIN HOMEOWNERSHIP PRESERVATION EDUCATION Refinancing

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Refinancing

period, let’s look at how much money Drew and Judy would save by refinancing the above

mortgage from an 8 percent to a 6 percent interest rate.

$132.21 * 12 = $1,160.52/year

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that easy. Refinancing costs money and that will have to be

factored in before the homeowner should make a decision. When buying a house for the first

time, there is . They also had to pay some fees. A loan offered at a lower interest rate may look

very good at first glance, but the homeowner should:

 Ask what kind and the amount of feeds to be charged on the new loan: There are

standard feeds on any mortgage loan but it is important for you to look for unusual fees.

Your local homeownership counselor can help you determine if the proposed loan fees

are standard or not.

 Consider if they have an existing second or third mortgage with restrictions: When you

first bought your home, if you received some money from your lending institution and

some from a nonprofit organization, the lender’s loan is a first mortgage and the

nonprofit’s is a second mortgage. Sometimes, there are other funds available to help

first-time homebuyers. A third source of funds would be a third mortgage.

o If multiple institutions lent money to you, you will need to meet all the

conditions of their loans. Everyone (the bank, the nonprofit, etc.) has their own

set of “loan conditions.” For example, it is common for many families taking this

course to have received “down payment assistance” which is often offered in

the form of a second mortgage. Many times this is government-based funding.

The city, county, state, or other government entity that made the loan may not

approve of the new loan partner or mortgage holder. It is very important that

you check your current set of loan documents and all of the mortgage partners

to see if they approve of you refinancing their portion of your home mortgage

loan.

 Determine if the new loan ahs prepayment penalties: A prepayment penalty is a big red

flag that indicates that the new loan that you are considering may not be in your best

interest. It penalizes you if you want to save money on your mortgage by making extra

payments or pay it off earlier than scheduled.

 Re-examine your current credit status: Remember when your credit report was “pulled”

and examined to determine if you were ready to buy a house? Well, the same thing will

happen again if you choose to refinance your mortgage.

 Examine your most recent mortgage statement and consider how much you have “paid

down” on your loan: Most mortgages are paid out over a 30-year term. What is you live

in your home and pay on your mortgage for 20 years? You would have to consider

whether it makes sense to refinance the last 10- years of your mortgage loan.

Remember, you pay most of the interest on your mortgage loan in the beginning. You

may find that you can’t save much money by refinancing.

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Refinancing

 Consider the amount of equity in the home: The price of your home was established by

the “market” at the time you bought it. What if the market has changed 10 years later

when you want to refinance your loan? If a “market appraisal” shows that your hoe has

increased in value since the time you bought it, then you will want to refinance.

Change the term or payout period of your mortgage

You may find that you can afford to shorten the term of your mortgage. Instead of a 20-year

note, you may want a 20-year note. Let’s look at what that would do to your payment using the

mortgage calculator. With the $100,000 loan at 8% at the end of 6 years, they have a mortgage

balance of $93,825.

Let’s assume you want to refinance at the lower interest rate of 6 percent for a 20 year loan.

Current Mortgage Refinanced Mortgage

Mortgage Amount $100,000 $100,000

Term 30 year 20 year

Interest Rate 8% 6%

Monthly Payment $733.76 $672.19

$733.76 - $672.19 = $61.57/month

You will pay a lot less interest over the life of the loan by reducing the term of your loan from 20

to 20 years. A mortgage calculator will show that the difference in interest paid from the current

mortgage to the refinanced mortgage is $49,996.44.

This may sound like an astounding number! After all, the loan was only $100,000 to begin with.

But remember, that was only the principal and does not include the total amount of 8 percent

interest paid over 30 years. When you signed your mortgage note, you received a document

called the Truth in Lending (TIL) Statement. The TIL showed how much interest you would have

to pay over the full term of your loan.

The amount of interest that we pay over 30 years surprises some people. Why? Because we

often focus on the monthly payment. We sometimes forget to think about how much the “cost

of borrowing the money adds to our monthly payment – the principal plus the interest. Over the

term of the loan, you pay a lot of interest. The good news is that this expense is deducted from

your annual federal income tax. This one reason alone is why paying interest on your home

mortgage is much different from the interest paid on a car not or a credit card balance.

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Refinancing

The break-even point

Finally, you have to consider how many months it will take to recoup the cash you used to

refinance your loan. Let’s assume it will cost approximately %45,620 to refinance the loan.

These sample figures were input into the mortgage calculator.

Points 3 Cost of points $2,814.76

Application fee $500 Credit Check $25

Attorney’s fee (yours) $25 Attorney’s fee (lender) $350

Title search $50 Title Insurance $930

Appraisal fee $350 Inspections $100

Local fees (taxes, transfers) 0 Document preparation $250

Other 0 Total $5,620

With the mortgage calculator doing the math using the above figures we get:

New monthly payment $672.19

Monthly savings $61.57

Difference in interest $49,996.44

You now need to calculate how long it will take to recoup the cash spent based on the money

saved by refinancing. This is known as the “break-even point” or the point at which you actually

begin to realize the savings you were looking for with the refinance. Let’s do the math:

Cash spent to refinance ($5,620) divided by $61.57 (monthly savings) =

91.3 months or 7 years and 6 months.

You will need to pay on your mortgage for seven years and six months in order to earn back the

cash used to refinance. However, when you consider the interest saved, by reducing the term of

the loan to 20 years, you have made a very good deal.

Adapted from Keeping the American Dream, by NeighborWorks America.

Cash-out refinance

This option is not for everyone, but it could be right for you. If your current mortgage loan is at a high

interest rate and you are thinking of refinancing, you may be able to refinance your mortgage into a

lower rate, and take out some cash in equity at that time. If you already have a competitive mortgage

interest rate, the cost to refinance is probably not worth it. But for the right family, cash-out refinancing

is a nice option that both provides you with an injection of cash for improvements, and may also lower

your monthly mortgage payment.