Refi Home Mortgage to drop 1%

[Holladay]

I have refinanced our home a few times. I thought the school of thought is that it is worth doing if you can drop the interest by 1 point.

Currrently, ours is at %3.75. I see ads for %2.6. Is that enough to justify a refi. We have ~14 yrs left and the %2.6 is for 15 yrs.

Thoughts?

[Bill Brasky]

This thread inspired me to talk to my loan officer and she said rates for my loan are dancing around 3.375 and occasionally fall to 3 flat for a day. But by the end of the summer/ early fall we should be able to lock in something in the high 2's, which is pretty incredible for a 30 year fixed.

[JD10367]

This thread made me call my bank, but my current rate is FHA at 3.25% and the 15-year rate is 2.7%, and once they nail you on the fees it wouldn't make much difference. But I'm keeping an eye on it now to see if it goes lower.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

This thread made me happy my home is paid off and all I have is investment property.





And a Boat!

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

This thread inspired me to talk to my loan officer and she said rates for my loan are dancing around 3.375 and occasionally fall to 3 flat for a day. But by the end of the summer/ early fall we should be able to lock in something in the high 2's, which is pretty incredible for a 30 year fixed.

My loan company ****ing called me and offered 2.99%

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

That’s the perception, but it’s not really the truth. In general, health insurers pay out more than than they are contractually required. It’s worth it to pay for the occasional procedure that isn’t technically covered than the publicity that will come with it. Of course they still **** up from time to time, but that’s unavoidable.

I guess one could say someone should have had better coverage or their employer has shitty insurance... yet, the worst I've heard (among many) would be "they don't have the right type of cancer" for a 16 year old.

Sorry, I wanted a policy that covers all cancers...

[Dallas Chief]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

That’s the perception, but it’s not really the truth. In general, health insurers pay out more than than they are contractually required. It’s worth it to pay for the occasional procedure that isn’t technically covered than the publicity that will come with it. Of course they still **** up from time to time, but that’s unavoidable.

Wrong. Why would they ever do that? They don't, that's why they make near $40BN a year in profits, which have risen steadily since the ACA passed. Good times for them!

[Iowanian]

Those closing costs are ridiculous.

I did a refi a month or so ago at 3.25 and my total cost was about 900.

I did stretch it out longer than I had it to lower my payment(which I always overpay and ALWAYS do the every 2 week option) so I can pay everything else off, and then I'll knock this out.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Dallas Chief

Which is the bigger scam- home mortgages or health insurance?

Are you shitting me?


"Here - have money it would take you 20 years to save on your own and we'll charge you less in interest than you can earn in the markets..."

Home mortgages are ****ing great and it's one of the things politicians forget about when they start to dick with the credit markets. You hear calls right now to suspend home foreclosures or mortgage payments through the end of 2021.

Um...okay - but that just means banks are going to stop lending outright for a year and a half unless your credit is just pristine. And even when it is, your rates will be higher. And when that happens the value of EVERYONES home will drop.

What kind of bullshit Dave Ramsey "how to handle your money for idiots who don't understand equity, returns or time value" nonsense is this?

[BWillie]

I paid my last house off in about 6.5 years, seems counterproductive to refinance and pay all the closing costs.

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by Dallas Chief

Wrong. Why would they ever do that? They don't, that's why they make near $40BN a year in profits, which have risen steadily since the ACA passed. Good times for them!

I mean, I can say with 100% certainty that they do. There’s also no health insurer that makes anywhere near that profit. UHC is the largest health insurer in the world and they profited slightly over a quarter of that. The margins are way smaller than you think they are. At the insurer that I price for, we target 1.5% margin on new business. Revenue is huge, but revenue is not profit.

[Bill Brasky]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

My loan company ****ing called me and offered 2.99%

That's outstanding. Did you take it?

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

I mean, I can say with 100% certainty that they do. There’s also no health insurer that makes anywhere near that profit. UHC is the largest health insurer in the world and they profited slightly over a quarter of that. The margins are way smaller than you think they are. At the insurer that I price for, we target 1.5% margin on new business. Revenue is huge, but revenue is not profit.

A cool $10 billion/year in profit for a company that takes my money every two weeks for no other purpose than being able to use that money to pay for future services that I may never use (and of course, more money than that with the outrageous cost of health care)... yet, I could put into the system for 60 years and never see a dime of my money back in either services or cash.... so, until I use the insurance and get scrutinized tooth and nail to squeeze the money I've put into it back out, I'm helping out those ever so slim margins.

Yeah, no scam there...

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

A cool $10 billion/year in profit for a company that takes my money every two weeks for no other purpose than being able to use that money to pay for future services that I may never use (and of course, more money than that with the outrageous cost of health care)... yet, I could put into the system for 60 years and never see a dime of my money back in either services or cash.... so, until I use the insurance and get scrutinized tooth and nail to squeeze the money I've put into it back out, I'm helping out those ever so slim margins.

Yeah, no scam there...

I’m certainly not going to argue about the outrageous costs of health care, but that’s not the discussion. Still not seeing how it’s a scam. Do you think the fire department is a scam? Chances are you’ll never need them but you pay for them every year too.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

I’m certainly not going to argue about the outrageous costs of health care, but that’s not the discussion. Still not seeing how it’s a scam. Do you think the fire department is a scam? Chances are you’ll never need them but you pay for them every year too.

Paying taxes is putting the money directly into the salaries, equipment, etc; for that service, which is of course very much needed. And I assume a fire department doesn't make $10 billion per year (what the government actually does with your money and how much they make from it is a whole other discussion that yeah, most people take exception to).

The analogy would only work if I was paying into the salaries of doctors and the costs to run hospitals... many of which are not-for-profit, which makes insurance companies that much more laughable.

Take that $14 billion profit last year... then take $10 billion of that and divide it among everyone who didn't use their insurance for that year. Let's say 50% of their 50 million customers (I'm hoping to low-ball that?).... that would be $400 per person for the year. Yeah, not gobs of money considering how much you pay into it, going back to the thin margins, but at lease something back, while they still profit four billion dollars.

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Paying taxes is putting the money directly into the salaries, equipment, etc; for that service, which is of course very much needed. And I assume a fire department doesn't make $10 billion per year (what the government actually does with your money and how much they make from it is a whole other discussion that yeah, most people take exception to).

The analogy would only work if I was paying into the salaries of doctors and the costs to run hospitals... many of which are not-for-profit, which makes insurance companies that much more laughable.

Take that $14 billion profit last year... then take $10 billion of that and divide it among everyone who didn't use their insurance for that year. Let's say 50% of their 50 million customers (I'm hoping to low-ball that?).... that would be $400 per person for the year. Yeah, not gobs of money considering how much you pay into it, going back to the thin margins, but at lease something back, while they still profit four billion dollars.

I mean, the biggest problem with that is that most people have insurance through their employer right? I mean, I can’t speak for everybody, but my portion of the costs is a pretty small fraction of the total cost of insurance. Of that $400, I’m seeing less than $70.

Edit - actually it would be closer to $100. I used last year’s W-2 and I forgot that I qualified for a special program.