Refinance - Helping Hands Community Partners

Why Refinance?

3 Great Reasons to Refinance Your Mortgage.

Should you refinance your current mortgage? Helping Hands’ mission, as your local non-profit mortgage company, is to help educate you about the pros & cons about refinancing. Here are the three most common reasons to refinance:

1. Lower your monthly mortgage payments

A new mortgage can save you hundreds of dollars every month. You can achieve this by refinancing into a lower rate, signing into a new mortgage, or Eliminating your PMI.

Eliminating PMI: by boosting your equity above 20% of the home value you can generally eliminate PMI. We’ll explain how.

2. Shorten your loan term

If you have a 30-year mortgage you can save thousands of dollars in interest costs by reducing the number of years and paying it off sooner. For example, going from a 30-year fixed to a 20-year fixed rate mortgage. It’s even better if you can lower your monthly payment and shorten the term.

3. Access home equity - Get Cash Out

If you have a paid-up mortgage or sufficient equity and would like cash, a new mortgage can help you access the equity in your home.

Consolidate your debts with a refi. Refinancing can provide enough savings on your mortgage payments to allow you to pay off higher rate credits cards or unsecured loans or roll those debts into the new loan thereby eliminating the monthly payments.

Get cash out! Life events such as healthcare expenses, divorce, passing of a parent, major home repairs, a new car, college tuition, a wedding, down payment assistance for an adult child, or getting a home ready to sell might all require immediate cash. Refinancing may be the best option.

You can even use the equity you have in your primary home to purchase income property or your dream vacation home.

With so many options, it’s imperative to get the facts about the cost and benefit of refinancing. Helping Hand’s experienced licensed loan officers will explain and answer all of your refinancing questions and, when appropriate, help arrange and guide you through the refinancing process.

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What are My Refinancing Options?

No two homes are alike, and no two refinancing scenarios are the same. There are many benefits to refinancing your mortgage. As a non-profit, we will not refinance your mortgage unless it is in your best interest to move forward. At no cost or obligation, we will look at your unique scenario and design a game plan for your success.

Please contact us for an informational discussion regarding your financial situation and housing goals that you would like to achieve. To be contacted by a Loan Officer, fill out the form to the right.

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How Much Can I Save From Refinancing?

The most common refinancing question.

The only accurate answer is “It depends.”

“How much can I save by refinancing?”
The only accurate answer is “It depends.”

There are several ways to measure savings, including:

- How much lower is your monthly mortgage payment; or

- The total amount saved over the remaining life of the loan (for example, your monthly payment might go up while reducing the number of years of payments for a net effect of saving thousands over the remaining life of the loan); or

- Your monthly payment might increase but you are able to boost your monthly cash flow by paying of more expensive non-tax-deductible interest debt such as credit cards; or

- For many, it’s a goal of improving one’s quality of life. Such as that dream home renovation project. The joy of homeownership might be much higher than the increase in the monthly payment.

Helping Hands Community Partners will help educate you about all the variables that impact the amount you can save by refinancing. Such variables include:

- Purpose of refinancing

- Owner occupied, second home, investor properties

- Mortgage credit scores

- Debt-to-income ratios

- Amount of home equity

- Type of loan

- Employment history

By asking you a series of questions, we can identify which loan programs you may qualify for and then help you choose the best option to achieve your goals. This takes the guesswork out of the process and prevents surprises later.

Secrets to Getting the best rate

"What's the rate?" The correct answer is “it depends.”

The loan rate you pay depends on many variables. In fact, NO lender can truly quote a rate or closing costs without additional information. On top of that, interest rates change daily, adding even more confusion and stress when shopping for a mortgage.

Our team will walk you through all the variables that impact the specific interest rate for different situations. Our overall intent is to get you in the best loan possible so you can enjoy being a successful homeowner.

Such variables that impact rates include:

Type of transaction: purchase, refinance, or reverse mortgage
Owner occupied, second home, investor
Mortgage credit scores
Debt-to-income ratios
Amount of down payment or equity
Type of loan
Existing or new construction
Employment history
Co-signor or co-borrower involvement
Gift funds used
Interest rates that you see advertised should have a footnote explaining exactly what assumptions are being used to determine the rate. In many cases, the advertised interest rate is just a marketing technique to generate a lead call.

Helping Hands is determined to explain what factors are used to calculate the interest rate and to share different loan options with you. We utilize a proprietary technology that allows us to search loan products and lending guidelines from nationwide and local lenders giving us hundreds of different options. By asking you a series of questions, we can identify which loan programs you may qualify for and then choose the best options to determine the exact available interest rates and closing costs. This takes the guesswork out of the process and prevents surprises later.

Our Helpful Refinance Mortgage Document Checklist

To better serve you and to give you more accurate information, below are the typical documents that we would like to review:

Income Verification

- Recent paystub(s) showing the past 30-days of employment

- Most recent federal tax returns for two years (all pages, all schedules)

- Most recent W2’s for two years

- For self-employed, please contact us

- Certificate of Eligibility and DD-214 (for VA loans)

Assets – Where Will Your Cash Come From?

The great news is for most refinancings we do not need to verify your assets! The reason being that the new loan amount will cover all cash requirements.

However, in some cases the borrower is required to bring funds to the closing or show they have sufficient reserves. In those cases, we generally must verify and source your assets if needed for your refinancing. Examples of sources of borrower funds include:

- Checking/savings

- Investment accounts (stocks, bonds, mutual funds)

- Loans or withdrawals from retirement accounts such as a 401(k)

- Gifts (must be documented)

Mortgage Credit Report

We will review your mortgage credit report with you. To do so, we will need your:

- Current home address

- Legal name

- Date of birth

- Place of birth

- Social security number

Identity

All lenders require verification of identity at time of application and when your loan closes. Please provide the following:

- Driver’s license or photo I.D.

- Social Security card (if available)

- Current and former address for prior two years

- Your place of birth

Checklist for FHA Streamline (Faster Refinance for FHA loans)

In a FHA streamline you can refinance your loan without having to provide the same level of documentation or go through the same amount of underwriting scrutiny that went into getting your original mortgage.

If you have an FHA mortgage, then you are eligible for an FHA Streamline

What we need to get started:

- Your Credit Report, which we can order for you

- Existing FHA Note

- Closing Disclosure for your FHA mortgage

- Mortgage Statement

- Current utility bill to prove residence (cell phone bill will not qualify)

- A declaration page for your homeowner's insurance


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