I got an offer today at an interest rate of 3.25% (apr: 3.65%)... same HUD nonsense on the mailer. I have just (in the last week) spoken to 4 other lenders and each and every one told me they can't help me refi because the value of our house had dropped so dramatically. We owe $210K and the value is now down to about $220K... still above water, but just barely. Of course our FICO is only about 700, so maybe we just don't qualify for whatever deal was mentioned above if you have a 720 score? Our loan is not owned by Fannie or Freddie (apparently if it was, they could finance well over 100% value). They also said they could do an FHA loan, but then we'd owe mortgage insurance because of the low value. Since the point was to lower our payments (not to cash anything out) and our interest rate is currently 5.75%... the 4% with PMI would be a break even on payments...and with closing costs, I guess a little into the negative. Not worth bothering. Darn... until I found this website, I thought First Ohio might have been a real option for us (they said they could loan up to $$240, 101.00 at the 3.65 APR (and no mention of PMI).
*Sigh* I guess if it seems too good to be true...it IS.
Thanks to everyone for caring enough to post this info. Forewarned is forearmed.
(I did wonder why we were getting an offer from Ohio when we live in Oregon... which is why I Googled them.)
