The Big Questions about Home Mortgage Refinancing

Some homeowners may have heard of refinancing Home Mortgage does not know what it means exactly what it causes or how to do it. All these questions are easy to get answers to, but a more difficult question is “When should I refinance my home mortgage” as is “Why should I answer to refinance my home mortgage.” Finally, perhaps the most difficult question a homeowner may have to just “should I refinance home mortgage to ask.” Before we try to answer these three questions, BIG, we take a look at what is refinancing, and what is not.

What is home mortgage refinancing?

Home mortgage refinance is essentially the act of obtaining a new home mortgage. This is not a “second mortgage” and it is very different from a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit(which we’ll discuss in a bit). It may be easier to understand home mortgage refinance if you think of it in the same terms as buying a house in the first place, because the process is quite similar.
In a home mortgage refinance the homeowner is obtaining a new mortgage. The new loan pays off the old one and the homeowner starts making payments to the new lender. There may be a number of reasons a homeowner would do this, but the primary reason most people refinance is to get a lower interest rate. Let’s say you purchased your home five years ago at a fixed rate of eight percent. It was a good deal at the time and you were happy with the fixed rate because you knew that if interest rates suddenly went up, the lender couldn’t change the rate on you. But interest rates went down and, for the sake of argument, let’s say they went down a lot. You’re paying eight percent when you could be paying four. A home mortgage refinance will get you out of that eight percent deal and into a more comfortable interest rate. This action can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

Refinancing vs. Line of credit

Many people confuse a refinance with a Line of Credit (LOC). These are actually two entirely different animals. A refinance is intended to essentially reduce your debt (or at least the amount you’re paying) while a line of credit will have the result of increasing it. Most people will get a home equity line of credit when they need to make improvements or have some major purchase. The line of credit works similarly to a revolving charge account – transactions against it will reduce the credit line and payments to it will make that portion of the line available again. There is much more to line of credit accounts than can be discussed here. Suffice to say that a refinance is not a line of credit and a line of credit is not a refinance.

The big questions about home mortgage refinance

In explaining home mortgage refinance we have already answered the “why.” The number one reason to refinance is to save money. The other two big questions are merely situational. When should you refinance your home mortgage? When doing so would be advantageous to you. No one is going to refinance for a higher interest rate, of course. The other big question, should you do it at all, also depends on the situation. If the timing is right and there is a benefit to the refinance, by all means do it.