Everyone loves a good deal and qualifying for the lowest mortgage interest rate can save you a pile of cash over the life of your mortgage loan. There are however, a number of problems that come up when refinancing online and if you’re not careful result in overpaying thousands of dollars. Here are several tips to help you qualify for the best mortgage rate while avoiding costly mistakes when refinancing your mortgage.
Check Your Credit First
One of the factors your mortgage rate is based on is your credit score. Your credit score is derived from the contents of your credit reports; everyone has three reports which are maintained by the three credit agencies of Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. The problem with these credit reports is that they are extremely prone to errors and if you don’t check before refinancing you could be overlooking a costly error. The good news is that Congress recently passed a law requiring these credit agencies to provide you a free copy of your credit report once every year. You can request your credit report by visiting the website: http://annualcreditreport.com
Read The Fine Print Before Clicking
The next costly mistake many homeowners make is neglecting to read the fine print before entering their contact information into a form. Most mortgage websites you run across have absolutely nothing to do with mortgage loans and exist only to capture user information and sell it to mortgage lenders and brokers. The problem with many of these sites is that the fee is passed on to you the unsuspecting homeowner. This fee is called a “Computerized Loan Origination Fee” and in the case of several well know mortgage sites including Lending Tree.com could cost you as much as $1,300. You can learn more about refinancing your mortgage with our free mortgage refinancing video tutorial.
My name is Rob Regehr and I’m a personal finance writer with a chip on my shoulder for banks and brokers that take advantage of my friends and neighbors.
