Finance - Which to pay first?

[kydsid]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

I thought 8K was excessive as well. This was through the same bank I currently have a mortgage with. They also wanted a new appraisal when I had an appraisal with them 6 years ago when I refinanced. All property has gone up since then...

I ran some calculators and it looks by paying ~$500 extra towards principal will get the loan paid off in around 15 years and save almost 60K in interest. I am going to just stay on that path. 3.8% interest I am fine with for now.

I think an appraisal is just always gonna happen. We were with Wells Fargo, they refused to do a refi saying they wouldn't do an appraisal which required the appraiser to enter the home, due to COVID. I asked if that would change soon. Nope. Even told them the only thing keeping me at WF was my mortgage and combinations with all the other products. So we called a Mortgage Broker who lives in our neighborhood. Great process and talk about working for the money. They worked their but off. We closed by having the Attorney come over and signed paperwork in our backyard.

For the appraisal we had to open all the windows and turn fans on, everyone wear masks. Still not a bad deal IMO.

Honestly I don't know where rates are for mortgages are right now but 3.8 is high, or was in September. That was our rate. We are down to 2.2. Shaved a little over $200 off the payment with the interest rate alone. We extended the mortgage by 3 years by refinancing. Cost of the refi and to catch up to where we were will take 3 years but be nearly cost neutral in that time due to the change in interest rate. After that 3 years we can start saving keeping that extra or pay to the mortgage.

I'd look around if you could. Wells is losing a customer they had for 23 years, 3 mortgages (all paid off), a bank box, 2 checking, 2 savings, money market, IRA. Only thing I'm keeping with Wells is my CC that unfortunately has the highest limit of all my cards. Getting rid of it would hurt my credit score too much. That is to say I've done most of my banking my entire life with only Wells Fargo. I was hesitant to switch but they forced my hand.
Your bank shouldn't be in the way of refinancing at 3.8 rate.