Need Cash?: The Right Time for Mortgage Refinancing

By: Mike Hamel

If interest rates have dropped by a percentage point or more since you got your first mortgage, refinancing could save you big bucks. And if you have enough equity so that your new mortgage is for less than 80% of your home's value, you'll be able to stop paying Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), which will save you even more.

Mortgage refinancing could also result in lower monthly payments, depending on factors such as: if any 'points' are paid to lower the interest rate on the new mortgage; how much cash is taken out at the time of refinancing; the duration of the new mortgage and whether the new mortgage is a fixed-rate, adjustable-rate or variable-rate loan.

"A vast majority of people close their loans, make their payments and don't worry about it again," says Bob Cannon of BancMortgage Financial Corp. "They don't refinance when they should be looking at it." Need Cash? Read More