"You make it sound so easy! I am seriously considering refinancing. But every time I learn that I need to find some document that isn't immediately within my reach, I think, ugh, this can certainly wait until a later time..."
Honestly, the only documents which aren't "within our reach" are all forms they sent for us to fill out and return (which we've got and are easy to fill out). All they needed form-wise were recent pay stubs (most recent for each of us), last 2 years of W-2s (fairly easy as it's tax time), and the declaration page from our homeowner's insurance (not sure exactly what they want, but I think I've got something close). Yeah, if we needed the number of items most mortgages require, we might balk, as well.
"Based on the information I learned on your blog, my husband and I looked into refinancing with ING. Their 3.75% rate is great, but the adjustable factor scared us a bit. Thoughts?"
As for the adjustable rate, the mortgage we've got doesn't adjust at all during the 5 years we have it, and as our plan and goal is to be rid of the blasted thing before the 5 years are up, we're considering that we've got a 3.75% rate for the effective remaining life of the loan. If we weren't planning on killing the thing off before the 5 years were up, we'd never refi.
If we don't make it and still have some balance left at the end of 5 years, even if that remaining balance is at a higher rate, we still win. If we only pay the minimum payment (about $225 every two weeks), we'll have somewhere over $80,000 left after 5 years. Even paying twice that monthly payment takes a huge bite out of the remaining balance. With the amounts we'll be putting toward it, if we do have to roll over for another 5 years, we should have a nice manageable balance left, so even at a higher rate, it won't break the bank.
Thanks so much to SlyGly and RLOusley for the comments and questions -- keep them coming!
Brief refinancing update: we got the paperwork from ING Direct -- a bunch of papers to sign, no real surprise there. I'm going to wait until this weekend to get our most recent pay stubs (since it's pay week -- yeah!) and send those in along with everything else, probably electronically (I can scan and email all the documents in -- I love the digital age). As part of the packet, they also gave us a copy of our credit scores -- mine is 809, and Ellen's is 799 (probably because I have a credit card I've had since college, giving me a longer credit history than her). I've used calculators and other things online to guestimate our scores, but seeing exactly what they are is really good to see.
I'll be sure to let you all know how refinancing is going. In the meantime, keep the questions coming!
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