A few years ago, when the housing market was booming, many home owners started to take advantage of the lower interest rates by refinancing their mortgages. For many borrowers refinancing is a great opportunity to save money on their mortgage, but there are other factors besides the interest rates that should be considered when determining if refinancing is a good choice.
Refinancing a mortgage multiple times has become a trend among borrowers, with more than 2.2 million refinances recorded since 2009. Because interest rates are still near record lows, there really aren’t any reasons for home owners to stop refinancing. Normally, refinancing a mortgage is an expensive process, so the high cost doesn’t always financial sense for home owners to go through with it, even if the interest rate on the new loan is significantly lower.
But lenders are coming up with ways of attracting refinances by lowering the closing costs or waiving certain fees, making refinancing much more accessible. Closing costs are not the only factor that home owners should consider before refinancing. Many mortgage loans also include a prepayment clause, which force the borrower to pay a steep penalty if they wish to pay off their mortgage earlier. Some lenders are even willing to waive the prepayment penalty. Don’t be fooled, though. Lenders usually recover the waived and lowered fees by charging a higher interest rate.
Should You Refinance Multiple Times?
Through history, as interest rates went down, the number of home owners who refinanced went up. Right now, with interest rates on the rise, but still near record lows, and the job market recovering, people are in a rush to refinance their mortgages. Refinancing multiple times makes sense, but only if you do your homework, and come to the conclusion that it will actually save you money. Many borrowers refinance thinking that a lower interest rate will save them money, while the cost of refinancing may actually cause them to end up with a more expensive loan, which will result in losing money.
Refinancing and getting a lower interest rate will not only reduce your monthly mortgage payment, but will also reduce the principal on your mortgage. Having a lower mortgage payment will free up money that can be used to make other purchases or even pay off other debt, which will increase your credit score, making future loans more accessible.
The downside to refinancing is that, with each refinance, you are basically resetting your mortgage term to a longer term, such as a 30-year term. This means it will take you a longer time to pay off your debt. Refinancing also requires a lot of running around, gathering several documents and more scrutiny on your credit score. The biggest downside of all is that refinancing is normally an expensive process, which can actually cause you to lose money.
Refinancing isn’t really a viable option for borrowers with low credit scores. Even if the lender is willing to waive some of the closing fees, applying for refinancing with a low credit score will either get you rejected, or you may find that there is no way to receive a loan with a lower interest rate.
Refinancing multiple times pays off for many home owners, especially if they manage to secure a lower interest rate and the lender is willing to waive some of the closing costs. When trying to determine if refinancing again is a good idea, make sure that you take all of the costs into consideration, or you might end up paying more than on your previous mortgage loan. Saving money by refinancing is more than just getting a lower interest rate from your lender. If you do the research and come to the conclusion that refinancing again is worth it, then doing it multiple times is a wise choice.