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Posted
Mar 23 2009, 12:54 PM
by
Joan Melcher
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
There we were in the crosshairs. We had three hours in which we could still cancel the refinance loan on our house, and an online mortgage entity was making an offer that was difficult to refuse -- a half a percentage point lower than the refinance we had signed two days before.
You might think it was a simple decision. But, as with most refinances, it was anything but that.
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Posted
Dec 19 2008, 03:41 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A story at USA Today -- "Mortgage rates at 37-year low: Average 5.19% for 30 years" -- disrupted our partner blogger J.D. Roth's vacation reverie. All of a sudden, J.D., who's not an impulsive guy, is thinking about refinancing his home. He checked Bankrate.com and found a low rate of 5.085%, which would reduce J.D.'s payments to $1,111 and save him $275 a month. But wait. It could get even better, he wrote in a post at Get Rich Slowly.
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Posted
Dec 03 2008, 06:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Filed under: banking, The Dough Roller, mortgage rates, credit rating, credit cards, credit reports, credit card rates, credit score, bad credit, car insurance, insurance rates, homeowners insurance
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. We all know just how important our credit score is when we apply for a loan. High credit scores get approved, while low scores do not, subject to other factors, of course. But your credit score and credit history affect a lot more than whether you get approved for a loan. Here are seven unexpected ways your credit score and credit history can affect your finances.
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Posted
Oct 16 2008, 07:24 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
As people wait for the federal government's various bailouts and rescues to trickle down and stabilize the economy, they got more bad news: The cost of financing or refinancing a home purchase has gotten more expensive.
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 6.74% (6.4% for a 15-year), the biggest weekly increase in 21 years, according to Bankrate.com's survey of lenders. Last week's Bankrate benchmark was 6.2%.
According to Bankrate, the new rate means the monthly payment on a $200,000 mortgage would be $1,295.87, about $70 more than it would be for a buyer who locked in a rate last week.
So we're right where we were eight weeks ago. Why is this happening? Weren't we supposed to see help for the housing market?
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Posted
Sep 09 2008, 05:41 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you closed on a house recently, prepare to kick yourself. One of the outcomes of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the lowest mortgage rate in five months.
According to Bankrate.com, the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped half a percentage point -- to about 6% -- on Monday after the takeover was announced. Rates dropped even further Tuesday, settling at 5.79%. (To figure out how long that rate will last, you will need a crystal ball.)
It's part of a mixed bag of results American consumers can expect now that the federal government has assumed responsibility for Freddie's and Fannie's debt. And it's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
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Posted
Jul 23 2008, 12:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Here's bad news for people shopping for a house or looking to refinance an adjustable-rate or interest-only mortgage: The average mortgage rate just reached a five-year high. The rate on Tuesday for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.71%. It's not crazy high by a long shot, but it's more than people have been accustomed to paying in recent years. The higher rate is due to the pressing problems at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says a New York Times article, even though Congress is poised to bail them out.
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Posted
Dec 12 2007, 01:02 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Who benefits from the mortgage bailout plan? Bankers and government, says The Baglady. And how about the subprime borrowers who will get to keep their homes under the plan? "These homeowners are just indentured servants to a gargantuan money-hungry force," Baglady writes. "Their rates will be frozen for five years, but they will have to keep on paying the price on an asset that has depreciated greatly" and spend just about all the money they make to do it.
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Posted
Nov 15 2007, 04:11 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you've decided home ownership is right for you (see our earlier post about this difficult question), make sure it's also affordable. The Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life tackles what's been a painful lesson for many with her advice about buying a home without losing your shirt . "The real estate industry is full of creative loans and fancy mortgages that can make your eyes blur and your wallet bleed," she writes. Work with trusted professionals, know what you truly can afford , stick with a fixed-rate mortgage if you can, and have no illusions that "the future will take care of itself" if you go with a more exotic type of mortgage.
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Posted
Sep 22 2007, 09:17 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Lower property values are among the ripple effects of the subprime mortgage lending crisis, according to a report by Americans for Fairness in Lending.
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