Refinancing

If you are wanting to either get a more desirable rate and/or terms for your mortgage or if you want to get cash because of the home’s equity, refinancing might be the perfect next step for you. There are two types of refinancing that can help you achieve what you want. There is rate-and-term refinancing and also cash-out refinancing. The point of Rate-and-term refinancing is that you get a new loan in order to pay off your previous loan. This type of refinancing would be used if you want to switch to an ARM mortgage or switch to a fixed rate mortgage. Cash-out refinancing can leave you with the amount of cash that you need to pay off your mortgage. Here at Consumer Mortgage we can help you grasp a better understanding of both and can help you refinance, so give us a call at (757)552-7000

Mortgage Points

When you go to a lender and discuss the terms of your loan, the lender might say something like. “you will have a rate of 7% on your 30 year loan with a charge of 1 point”. These Points are a way to lower your prepaid interest on your loan. The more points you have the lower your rate. There are many factors to think about when deciding points. One of these factors is how much money you can put down at closing. In order to get the lowest closing costs you want to have a zero-point option. Here at Consumer Mortgage we can help you understand what your points are doing to your mortgage , so give us a call at 757-552-7000 or 800-882-0066. We will use are 30 years in the business to get you the mortgage to purchase your next home

Special Loans

There are a couple special loan programs that allow lower down payments or other benefits. The following are some of these programs:

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Mortgages: This type of mortgage is backed by the US government. This type of loan helps veterans and their spouses. There is most likely no down payment and their might be some other benefits, depending on qualification. Because it is backed by the government, it tends to me more understanding to borrowers who default.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Mortgages- This type of mortgage is administered by HUD and is also backed by the US government. The standards for this type of loan are easier. The credit qualification, sown payment, and underwriting all have easier standards. The HUD collects mortgage insurance so that the lenders are insured if the borrowers default.

Here at Consumer Mortgage we can help you with both VA and FHA mortgages , so give us a call at 757-552-7000 or 800-882-0066. We will use are 30 years in the business to get you the mortgage to purchase your next home

Down Payments

Down payments tend to be the hardest part of a mortgage. Lenders usually require anywhere between 5% and 20%. If you have a lower credit score then putting down more of a down payment, somewhere in the 25% to 30% range, the lender will be more willing to give you the loan. If you cannot make the down payment, then you might have to get Private Mortgage Insurance, or PMI. Can me and we can look at your options. Jeff  Moore 757.552.7000.

Prequalification and Preapproval

If you are trying to buy a home, prequalification or preapproval is a helpful step. This is because prequalification or preapproval helps you learn how much money lenders will lend you to buy this house. They both do the same thing, the lender checks your credit, income, assets, and debts to help figure out this magic number. The difference is that with preapproval, the lender checks the information you give him, and it is binding. The reason that prequalification is not binding is because the lender is relying on your word, instead of proof.  Here at Consumer Mortgage we can help you with both prequalification and preapproval, so give us a call at 757-552-7000 or 800-882-0066. We will use are 30 years in the business to get you the mortgage to purchase your next home

Credit Scores

Your Credit Scores is one of the main ways that mortgage companies use to determine whether to approve your loan. The higher the credit score the better. There are 4 main factors for determining your credit score. They are past delinquency, length of credit, credit use, and mix of credit. The reason that they use past delinquency is because failing to make payments in the past makes it more likely that they will fail to make the payment again. If these failed payments are more recent they affect the score more. With the length of credit, the longer you have had credit the better that it is for your score. Mixture of credit is very important as well. The best combination would be that with revolving installment debt instead of just a credit card. Be sure that before you go in for a loan that you check that your credit score is correct because an estimated 4 out of 5 reports contain some sort of misinformation. If you still have late payments on your report be able to explain them to a lender. Here at Consumer Mortgage we accept many credit scores, so give us a call at 757-552-7000 or 800-882-0066. We will use are 30 years in the business to get you the mortgage to purchase your next home.

Fixed Rate Mortgages: 15 year versus 30 year loans.

Depending on your situation, the best option for you might be a 15 or a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Each has its advantages. With a 30 year fixed mortgage you get a long term loan that the changes in the market will not affect. Because it is a longer loan, the monthly payments are lower and more manageable. This type of loan also can reduce some of your federal income tax because you may be able to write the interest off. But because this is a longer term loan, the interest rate is higher than a 15 year loan. A 15  year loan you are able to build equity twice as fast and have a lower overall interest charge.

Right now could be the right time for you to refinance your loan

Why?

The Federal Reserve Board is in charge of setting interest rates, because of the economy we are in right now, they have set very low rates. This makes it a very good time for refinancing.

Why should you refinance?

If you refinance, you can take advantage of these low rates and you can shorten your loans. Lower interest rates mean smaller payments. So lowering your interest by any amount can lower your payments as well! Now, if you have a long term loan like a 30 year loan, you can refinance to make your loan term shorter. If you made your loan a 10, 15, or a 20 year loan you can pay off your loan faster and cheaper!

ARM refinancing

If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, then refinancing might be a good step for you. Even though you have these great rates right now, this might not always be the case. Refinancing to a fixed rate would allow you to not have a major jump in your payments due to interest rates.

If you or anyone you know is looking for a low rate with a local company give us a call (757)552-7000. Right now Consumer Mortgage has a 10 year rate at 2.625% and A.P.R. of 2.626%

The VA Streamline Refinance (IRRRL) Loan

The Interest Rate Reduction Loan allows you to refinance your current mortgage interest rate to a lower rate than you are currently paying. The Streamline Loan is very popular because of its ease of use. It is very simple to lower your interest rate and experience savings. In most cases, an experienced loan officer will have your loan closed in two weeks. VA refinance closing cost can be rolled into the cost of the loan allowing the veterans to refinance with no out of pocket cost. There is no appraisal or income proof in the VA Streamline Loan. To qualify for the VA Streamline, you must be current on your mortgage with no 30 day late in the past 12 months. You cannot receive any cash out on the IRRRL. The only other conditions are that your loan must be a VA loan and have a credit score of at least 640. It’s that simple! So check out our website www.consumermtg.com or give us a call at 757-552-7000 or 1-800-882-0066.

Reduce interest rate and term?

Can you believe its 2013.  The housing market appears to be on the rebound and interest rates declined in the third quarter of 2012. So now is the time to refinance or purchase that new home. With rates at historically lows now is the time to reduce your rate and term. What do I mean by reducing your term well, if you had a 30 year mortgage and you are thinking of refinancing to take advantage of lower rates you should also explore lowering your term. Term is the amount of time or duration of your mortgage. Example a 30 year mortgage has a term or duration of 30 years. 15 year mortgages are available at a lower rate than the typical 30 year mortgage and can shave years off your repayment period. So when you think of lowering your rate also look at lowering your term. Can me and we can look at your options. Jeff  Moore 757.552.7000.