Cons of mortgage refinancing: You'll have to pay closing costs. You may have a longer loan term, which will increase your costs and delay the payment date. You could have less equity in your home if you withdraw cash. You may have to deal with borrower remorse if rates drop substantially after closing.
The main benefits of refinancing your home are saving money on interest and having the opportunity to change the terms of the loan. The drawbacks include the closing costs you'll have to pay and the possibility of limited savings if you apply for a larger loan or choose a longer term. The main disadvantage of refinancing is that it costs money. What you're doing is applying for a new mortgage to pay off your old one, so you'll have to pay most of the same closing costs you paid when you first purchased the home, including origination charges, title insurance, application fees, and closing charges.
If you need to remove a person's name from a mortgage in the event of a divorce or other circumstance, refinancing is the most common route. When mortgage rates fall, borrowers are sometimes tempted to seek ever lower rates, refinancing each time rates fall by a quarter or half a percentage point. Finally, even if only temporary, refinancing your mortgage could have a negative impact on your credit rating, as the lender will conduct extensive research to assess your creditworthiness credit. Refinancing a short-term mortgage could increase your monthly payments and make it unaffordable for you.
Refinancing is a process that may seem intimidating to some people, but it doesn't have to be. In any case, it's easier than applying for the original mortgage you used to buy the home. In today's real estate market, refinancing a mortgage is a much more complicated issue than it was a few years ago. Refinancing for another 30-year mortgage would lower your monthly payment, but the long-term cost could eliminate any savings you want to make. Refinancing for a longer loan term (for example, from a 15-year mortgage to a 30-year mortgage) can lower your monthly payment, although you will need to pay more interest over the life of the loan.
If the new mortgage rate is only half a percentage point lower than the old one, it may take 7 to 10 years to recover refinancing costs. Keep in mind that they are for situations where you can refinance to lower the mortgage rate; in those situations, it may still be advantageous to refinance or refinance with cash outlay to extend your term and reduce your payments. You can save money by refinancing a loan with a shorter loan term, or get a lower monthly payment if you refinance a loan with a term for a longer loan. Consider the long-term cost of refinancing if most of the payment you've made on your 30-year mortgage covers interest.
If you've paid off most of your mortgage, it's worth continuing with your current mortgage or refinancing it with a shorter repayment period to meet your goals.
