Should I Refinance My Mortgage and Do I Qualify

With interest rates on 30 year fixed-rate mortgage loans below 4%, the lowest level since the 1950s, many borrowers are keen to refinance their home loans and other mortgages. By any long-term measure, current rates are a great deal and could result in tens of thousands of dollars in savings …

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How Much Higher Will Mortgage Rates Go This Year

With the Fed’s aggressive actions in raising rates to tackle inflation, economists are predicting that rates will continue rising for the remainder of the year. This is based on the dramatic rise of the 10 year Treasury yield over the last month to which mortgage rates are loosely tied. The …

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15 Year Versus 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages – How to Determine Which is the Better Option

As mortgage rates continue to hover at 30 year lows, many people are wondering whether a 15-year or a 30-year mortgage term is a better option. After all, even though payments on the 15-year option would be higher, the lower interest rates on the shorter term loan are keeping payments, in many cases, at very manageable levels.

With the average 15-year interest rate near 3.5 percent for those with good credit, versus around 4.5 percent for a 30-year mortgage, it’s hard not to at least consider the shorter term mortgage option. Further the higher payments, lower interest rate, and shorter repayment term of the 15-year mortgage option allows people to pay down their principal much faster, too.

Apparently quite a number of homeowners have jumped to 15-year mortgages lately. In fact, according to data from CoreLogic, for the first half of this year, over 25 percent of homeowners who refinanced went with a 15-year option. This is a drastic increase over past years, when only about 9.4 percent of home owners went that route.

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Solving the Housing Foreclosure Crisis by Cutting Mortgage Principal Balances – Big Mistake

Mortgage interest rates are at their lowest point in decades (about 4.5%) and the housing credit has been in effect for more than three years, yet the housing market is tepid at best, with foreclosures at record highs and government housing institutions having to put more distressed assets on their books. This has spurred rumors around the web that the Obama administration (via the Treasury) will soon be asking government owned entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand their “save the economy” effort by reducing the principal balances for those individuals struggling to pay their mortgage payments.  Keep in mind that the President does not need congressional approval for this change because 1) the government already “owns” Fannie and Freddie and 2) the Treasury has removed the previous limits on the amount of money the organizations can tap into (it was $400 Billion, now – no limit).

Unlike most rumors, this one became more, not less, plausible when you examine the details. The White House has made it clear in recent months that it is frustrated by what the Framers called “the legislative branch,” what President Obama calls “politics” and what I call “the wishes of the American people.” Obama craves a short-term sugar rush for the economy. If he feels cornered, betrayed and alone, he could use his new ownership of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a free federal candy store and tell America to line up and pig out. In more ways than one, Barack Obama seems to want to be known as the Sub-Prime President. (source : New York Post)

While this plan may help a handful of borrowers on the edge of foreclosure, there are many more  fundamental problems with  reducing the principal home loan balances which include:

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