What Can a 15 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Do For You?

Mortgage rates reached record lows that have not been seen since the 1950’s.

Is it time to refinance?

If you have a 30 year fixed rate in the high 6 percent range now is a great time to refinance into a 15 year fixed. Depending on your equity in the property and your credit score, you may find that you can refinance into a 15 year fixed with a payment that is not much more than what you are paying now.

The advantages to this are simple, paying a 15 year fixed rate mortgage builds your equity much more quickly and allows you to pay off your home much sooner…

For example, if you have a $200,000 mortgage at 6.75% your principal and interest (P & I) payment is $1,297. A 15 year fixed rate at 3.875% would give you a P & I payment of $1466, a difference of only $169 a month. What is important for homeowners to take note of is the difference in the paying down of the principal balance.

• After the first year, the 30 year fixed rate has paid down its balance by $2,316, while the 15 year fixed rate has paid it down by $7,486.

Those are powerful numbers, but what is even more compelling is what happens after 5 years:

• After 5 years the 30 year fixed rate has paid down its balance by $15,491, while the 15 year fixed rate has paid down by $67,458.

Today, rates are at an all time low but that does not mean they will stay this low forever.

Review your current mortgage rate and, if it makes sense to refinance into a 15 year fixed rate, consider talking to your Mortgage consultant about what options are available to you.

The following mortgage charts are from BankRate.com