Finance – Infowire

A mortgage loan is the largest debt most people will ever have. The most common length of the loan is 30 years before it is paid off. The ability to pay off a mortgage early or to just lower the payments is very seductive to most people.

There are hundreds of financial experts willing to give you advice on lowering mortgage costs. Anyone who uses some common sense and does their research can do this on their own. Refinancing the loan may be a possibility if your current financial and credit situation are both in good shape.

If you are already in a fixed rate loan offering the lowest possible interest rate you have no reason to consider refinancing. There are very few buyers who were able to obtain this deal at the time of their purchase. Many times it was due simply to not having a large enough down payment or that their credit score was too low for the best loans or the better rates. For these people refinancing can really benefit their mortgage costs by lowering them considerably.

Anyone who is not in a fixed rate loan should consider refinancing the mortgage. Your credit score needs to be high enough to qualify for the good rate and your credit history should not show any recent late payments or missed payments.

In order to get the best possible interest rate and lower your monthly mortgage costs with refinancing you have to have a good credit score. Equity in the home from living there awhile or by upgrades will also benefit you in obtaining the lower interest rates. The home equity is used to balance the loan and gain leverage for a better rate. If you owe $140,000 on the home and it is appraised at $200,000 then you have $60,000 equity that can be left alone and considered a down payment with your refinanced loan.

Your home should be in the best possible shape at the time of refinancing. An appraiser will come out to assess the homes value, the higher the value the better the savings you will see. Make sure all repairs are completed in the home. Just as if you were selling the property you should remove clutter and create curb appeal for the appraised value to be at the highest.

You need to aim high for the appraised value. The higher the amount the better the investment you will be for the lender. The best rates are reserved for people with perfect credit but even for those of us that may have less than perfect credit there are ways to increase our chances at getting those better rates. A better appraisal means more equity to the new loan and therefore a better investment for the lender. This gives you major leverage on the interest rate as well as the terms. Your credit score has to be high enough to allow you to be approved for these rates so learn how to raise your score quickly if it needs a little boost. .

Graham McKenzie is the content coordinator for a leading South African leading Homeloans and Bond Origination portal which provides access to ABSA Homeloans.