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New to boards. Wanted to know if anyone knew of a bank or lending organization that would consider refinancing our 30-year to a 15-year mortgage? We had a short sale in the past year on a rental. We have no other debt but score below 700. Thank you.
I am not sure if any lender would with your recent short sale.
My suggestion would be to make double payments (tell the current lender to apply the extra to the principle) and you can pay off your loan sooner without the stress or the expense of refinancing.
@IOBA wrote:I am not sure if any lender would with your recent short sale.
My suggestion would be to make double payments (tell the current lender to apply the extra to the principle) and you can pay off your loan sooner without the stress or the expense of refinancing.
Actually IOBA, you don't even have to make double payments to reduce the amortization from 30 to 15 yrs. The OP can hop on any reliable mortgage calculator (at bankrate.com for example) and put in his figures for his current loan and print out the amortization schedule.
The easy way to reduce the time period is just make the next monthly principal payment along with your full regular payment. With the amortization schedule printed, it is easy to see the next amount due. Usually those amounts are very, very small - nothing near double, unless you are close to the end of your loan.
Another way to shorten the time period is to make a large annual payment along with one of your regular monthly payments. The mortgage calculator has a function to figure out how large the payment needs to be to shorten your term to X yrs.
Play with it a little while and you get the idea.
The OP will have to wait to refi his primary until the time passes. On a FHA loan he is looking at a min of 2 yrs. Conventional loans need a longer time period
HOWEVER, because this is your primary residence you may qualify under the revamped HARP program. This would be something you have to speak to your lender about. This new revamped program is coming out this quarter (1Q 2012). You have to be current in your payments. They will allow one late in the last 12 months. I don't know anything about the program yet, but ask your lender to see what their program criteria is.