Yesterday I got the first
statement on my
refinanced
mortgage. What a relief it feels to see the numbers on this piece of
paper.
Two years ago, I bought my house two years ago this month. I financed about $100,000 worth of the house. At that time, I was able to get a 30 year FHA loan at approximately a 7 percent interest rate. The payment every month was bearable even though I was going to have to pay the additional mortgage insurace because I didn't have enough equity in the house yet. When I signed the closing papers, one piece of paper sticks out in my mind. This is the paper that tells you how much you've financed, and how much the interest payments are going to be. The amount of interest I would pay over the next 30 years was going to be $140,000. In economics this is called getting owned by The Man.
Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve allowed me to fight The Man by having slashed interest rates in the last couple of years. Mortgage rates plummeted very far, so far in fact that this June, the 15 year conventional mortgage rate went to 4.6 percent. I called my mortgage company and said "I want to refinance with a 15 year note," and they set me up. The refinance charge (translation: ripoff) was $2000, but they of course rolled that back into the loan.
The closing papers this time are much better. Not only did my monthly note go up by only $50, but the amount of interest I will pay over the next 15 years is down to $40,000. That's, um, $100,000 saved. Wow. Holy shit. That's, um, a whole fucking lot less interest. Thank you Mr. Greenspan!!!