Mortgage closing costs?

[blackthorn]

All four of the mortgages I have had were set up to make a payment every two weeks, rather than once a month. This alone reduces the overall cost significantly. Also each mortgage had a stipulation that I could make an extra payment at any time without penalty.

[Handloader109]

With my two re-fi's I stayed with the same lender (Wells Fargo). When the whole country started refinancing, they were proactive and contacted me both times before I ended up going elsewhere. I agreed to consider, they sent the paperwork, I signed it, then mailed it back. The interest rate dropped and there were no costs associated with the process either time. It did extend the term of the loan, but didn't increase the payoff amount by a dollar. The increased loan term was not a factor as we have continued to make the same payment we were making before the first re-fi. There are no prepayment penalties so it has been a win with significantly more going to principal every month.

As noted, our approach is not for everyone. We weren't setting out to lower out payments and our loan balance is modest. Our goal has been simply to get the loan paid off faster with the same payment. I could have found lower rates elsewhere but fees would probably offset most of the savings. But the real selling point was the convenience of the process as it literally took less time than writing this comment. Same lender and same loan means no application and approval process.

But if you increased the loan back from say 25 years back to a 30 year, you may very well pay way more in interest, even with a refinance. Wells Fargo isn't refinancing if they can't make a few dollars..... Its where a good calculator and a few minutes helps. Just because you can cut your payments by $50 a month doesn't mean you save money..... (principal would stay the same unless a charge for the refi is rolled into mortgage)

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[BamaNapper]

But if you increased the loan back from say 25 years back to a 30 year, you may very well pay way more in interest, even with a refinance. Wells Fargo isn't refinancing if they can't make a few dollars..... Its where a good calculator and a few minutes helps. Just because you can cut your payments by $50 a month doesn't mean you save money..... (principal would stay the same unless a charge for the refi is rolled into mortgage)

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As I noted, we continued making the same payment we had been making prior to the re-fi even though the payment due was reduced. So, if the payment due was $50 less after the re-fi, we simply made the payment and put that $50 toward principal every month. What the re-fi did was to lower the amount of interest that was added back to the balance every month. We could have changed it up and had the re-fi written up for a shorter term, but then there would have been fes associated with the re-fi and we would have lost much of the benefit.

[Handloader109]

Yes,but the key to what I stated and what you did are two different things. YOU continued to PAY more than required. YOU are paying principal down by the $50 (IF YOU ARE DESIGNATING THIS AS EXTRA PRINCIPAL PAYMENT.) If you just add $50 to the payment, it just goes to reduce next month's payment, not principal. Some mortgage companies require a separate payment to apply it to the principal. I've had different mortgage companies that have done it both ways.
But no more. Mine's gone for good...
Just sayin.

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[BamaNapper]

Our payments are all done online. We enter the amount to transfer and anything over the payment amount defaults to going into the principle payment box.

Our mortgage is almost gone and I am getting tempted to add to it. Normally I'm all against picking up debt, but with every economist out there screaming inflation and doom this may be the time to put on that metal roof and get the house painted. Normally we'd just do that with budgeted home funds, but adding it to the mortgage would allow us to purchase at today's prices and pay back with inflated dollars over the next few years.