Refinancing

I'd turn the cable off before doing a refi.. but that's me. Also, if I may.. When your car is paid off, continue "making" that payment, but make it to a savings account that you will not touch for 5 years. By that time your current car will probably be dead, but by continuing to make the payments to yourself you will have a nice down payment for your next car.

Another thing I would do is look for a credit card that has 0% interest on balance transfers. Transfer all your other credit card debit to that one card. Then take all of your cards and put them in a ziploc bag full of water. Put the bag in the freezer. (don't cancel them, just make sure they are out of reach. Cancelling them can make your credit score go down.) If you're putting any money in to retirement, stop. Use that money to pay off your debts, then when debt free put the money in to retirement again. I know it sounds weird, but you're paying more interest on those debts than you're gaining in that retirement program.

check in to using EFax (http://www.efax.com) you might be able to get rid of that phone too (if you have a cellphone).

Stop drinking soda/beer. Only buy Generic products.

recommended reading: http://www.amazon.com/Suze-Orman-Courage-Be-Rich/dp/6305348618

Quote:
Cynthia is spot on! (as usual). The main thing is the comparison between monthly savings and refi costs.

Some have voiced concern that you are extending the term by refinancing. When I refinanced, I made the new loan for 30 years, but I have been paying off more each month than the loan requires. There is no pre-payment penalty on my loan, so by paying more each month, I effectively reduce the length of time until payoff. The nice part is if I run into financial bad times, I can bring the payment back down by not paying that extra amount.

You might need to look at your larger financial picture too. If the lower payment on your re-fi is going to help you pay off your credit cards sooner then it may save you more money there too. Of course you have to be diciplined enough to use your extra money toward credit card debt.

The only thing I'm having a hard time with, is the possibility of you being upside down on your house (you owe more than it's worth.) This can be pretty risky in the event of an unforseen financial difficulty (like an injury or serious *read expensive* illness.) If you suddenly lose income and you can't sell your house without having to pay money at closing it could be disastrous.

But with all the growth in your area it seems like you should have enough equity to absorb the closing costs of your loan without going upside down. So that makes me wonder if the costs are too high?

Of course no one can tell what the future holds. If you feel like the re-fi is the right thing to do, even after you've looked at all the possible negatives then it probably is. Sometimes you have to trust your intuition.

I'm going for it. I've had 2 mortgage companies in the past 3 hours telling me that I'm getting a great deal and instead of going with THEM that I should go with the company I'm about to refinance with. That's big. I've never heard of a company telling people to go with someone else!

We do have a VA loan and that's why (from what I've been told) we're getting a good rate.

We close on the 21st...next Friday I think.