Posted: 9/13/2016 3:38:18 PM EDT
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So, the company that is handling my VA mortgage just called me.
They said, since I've made all my payments on time thus far, they would like to lower my interest rate, let me skip the payment for November, AND they're going to take 5 months off the end of my loan. They didn't ask for money or credit card info. I haven't committed to anything yet, supposedly they will be emailing me some forms to give them permission to adjust my mortgage and then I'll have to sign some stuff in front of a notary. So what gives? Is this just good fortune or am I being set up for something? Sounds too good to be true. |
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Well, I don't have any equity in the house yet, only had it for 7 months, so is there any other way this could bite me in the ass?
I got burned BAD in the adjustable rate mortgage deal in 2007, so I'm a little gun shy when it comes to my mortgage now. Learned a very hard lesson last time. |
| You'll have to do the math on any closing costs and length of loan. Provided it is fixed rate and you're only 7 months in it will likely be in your favor. But you should do the math anyway. As stated alot of places do this to keep your loan and don't want you to refi with somebody else, they want your money. |
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Quoted:
So, the company that is handling my VA mortgage just called me. They said, since I've made all my payments on time thus far, they would like to lower my interest rate, let me skip the payment for November, AND they're going to take 5 months off the end of my loan. They didn't ask for money or credit card info. I haven't committed to anything yet, supposedly they will be emailing me some forms to give them permission to adjust my mortgage and then I'll have to sign some stuff in front of a notary. So what gives? Is this just good fortune or am I being set up for something? Sounds too good to be true. Might be another company trying to get you to refinance with them. I've had those calls. Maybe it's not, but to be sure I'd call the company that's handling your mortgage |
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Quoted: Got any real paperwork? Can you sit down with them or a person from them physically in front of you to hash out the details? This... how the hell do you know who they are? Have you verified they are really your mortgage company? Have you called your company to ask them this same question? They could be fishing for finiancial info. |
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We closed less than a year ago.
I get lots of letters from the mortgage holder about how they can lower my interest rate and payment... They can. By a tiny bit overall...but....if you read closely, they're rolling all the new fees back into the loan....so a $285k principle becomes $291k after the new loan.... |
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Quoted:
This... how the hell do you know who they are? Have you verified they are really your mortgage company? Have you called your company to ask them this same question? They could be fishing for finiancial info. Quoted:
Quoted:
Got any real paperwork? Can you sit down with them or a person from them physically in front of you to hash out the details? This... how the hell do you know who they are? Have you verified they are really your mortgage company? Have you called your company to ask them this same question? They could be fishing for finiancial info. They know who he is because he is their client, genius. They're trying to refi, which is what a loan officer's job is. Loan officers put things into simple terms like in the OP's post because if they said what was really happening people wouldn't understand what that means. They didn't ask him to give info out, they asked him to fill out a loan app. Tinfoil much? |
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Quoted:
So, the company that is handling my VA mortgage just called me. They said, since I've made all my payments on time thus far, they would like to lower my interest rate, let me skip the payment for November, AND they're going to take 5 months off the end of my loan. They didn't ask for money or credit card info. I haven't committed to anything yet, supposedly they will be emailing me some forms to give them permission to adjust my mortgage and then I'll have to sign some stuff in front of a notary. So what gives? Is this just good fortune or am I being set up for something? Sounds too good to be true. Yep, they're trying to get you to refinance. Here is what you need to do. 1) Get online and look at a mortgage amortization calculator. Put in your payments, rates, months remaining, and any extra money you put towards principal each month/year/etc. Good calculators will accommodate this. 2) Find out what rate is being offered, they should give you some ballpark numbers (or make them available online). Based on their lowest rate for the term you're looking at, and what you know about your current credit worthiness, re-do the calculator with the proposed rates/payment schedule. However, instead of your current mortgage balance, add in closing costs when you run the revised amortization calculation. The bank should be able to tell you about how much to add here, but if not, use around $5,000. 3) Look at the two results and find out if.. a) what they are saying is true b) how long it takes you to "break even", meaning how long after refinancing and rolling in closing costs, does your principal balance on the mortgage dip below what it would have been without refinancing. 4) If it's a short enough break even point and you don't think you'll be moving, it may be a good idea. 5) Also consider if your credit is in a place right now where you can qualify at the lowest rates. If not, it may be a good idea to refinance, but just not after you've improved your credit enough to make it worth it. You don't want to have to refinance all the time because you eat a lot of cost up front. 6) Additionally, run another mortgage amortization calculator with your current rates and add extra money to the principal payments each month. Sometimes just doing this, instead of refinancing, can help you end up with the same result. Again, this is because of all the money you eat on closing costs to refinance a loan. 7) Before you do anything, you are entitled to a "LOAN ESTIMATE". This tells you the costs associated with refinancing, and it allows you to shop around with other banks to see if the offer is acceptable to you. Hope this helps, good luck! ***EDIT*** Note that steps 1-6 are doable even before you submit an application. You don't need to start getting hits on your credit until you're reasonably sure it's a good idea in the first place. |
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