Best Refinance Mortgage Rates |

Finding The Best Refinance Rates

The Internet has become an indispensable tool for the consumer. This is especially true when it comes time to do comparison shopping. And in these days of historically low interest rates, maybe it’s time to take a look at refinancing your home to save money and potentially accelerate your equity growth by switching to a shorter term loan. So, how can we utilize the Internet to find the best refinance rates and programs?

There are hundreds of lenders that publish their rates and programs online. But common sense tells us, that unless we have special circumstances such as bad credit or little money to put down, we should probably limit our research to the major lenders. You want to visit the sites of the banks you do business with, lenders you’ve borrowed from before, and the major players such as Countrywide, BOA, and Citibank.

There are also many sites where you can see a daily comparison of the “market” interest rates for various loan programs such as fixed 30 year, fixed 15 year, and the various adjustable rate (ARMs) mortgages that are available. The key is to find the best refinance mortgage program that meets your needs.

For instance, I refinanced out of a 30 year fixed loan into a 15 year fixed with a monthly payment increase of less than $200. That means for a little bit more each month I will be paying off my loan in roughly half the time. That’s saving a ton of interest.

After you’ve done your research into the market online refinance rates and decided which loan program works best for you, you’ll want to compare those market program rates with those offered by the lenders you might want to apply with.

These lenders will have web sites where you should carefully read through the terms and conditions of the loan programs you are interested in. However, for this to be of any value, you also need to do some homework into terms common in the mortgage industry.

APR
Origination Fee
Closing Costs
Title Insurance
Discount Points
Escrow

You should understand what these terms mean. They will all affect the bottom-line costs and true relative value of the loan you’re evaluating. Finding the best refinance rates is all about making apple-to-apple comparisons between programs. That involves much more than just the quoted interest rate.

The best refinance mortgage rate is the one that best fits your financial situation and allows you to save the most money either in your monthly mortgage costs, or in in the interest paid over the life of the loan. You can do all your research into finding the best refinance rates online, just make sure you look at all the factors that go into the ultimate financial benefits of the loan.