My mortgage refinance, three months in the making, is finally a done deal.  Nearly 35 autographs, 18 pages initialed by both my wife and I, 3 lbs of paper, and a half hour out of our work day later and the 4.625% rate is a reality.

This cuts our monthly principle and interest by $250 per month, or about $3,000 annually.

Banking, Real Estate mortgage, mortgage rates, refinance

The latest in the long saga of the refinance effort for our primary residence; the 4th loan handler called today to notify us that we’ve been approved for closing.  There is one very slight hitch in the works though, although I’m not real worried.  The message stated that the rate of 4.625% was approved for a loan amount of $152,400 bringing monthly payments to $1,080.

That sounds great, except for the monthly payment part.

By my calculation, the monthly payment should equate to just shy of $800 per month for principle and interest. A far cry from $1,080.

The representative did say, however, that those numbers were just preliminary .  I don’t know why she couldn’t give me the real, no kiddin’ numbers, they’ve only been working on this for 3 months!.

The final numbers should come via a phone call in 7 business days along with a request to schedule closing…

Finance, Real Estate mortgage, refinance

Nothing ever goes as smoothly as planned, and my refinance project with Wachovia isn’t abnormal in that regard.

My rate was locked in at 4.625% way back at the beginning of January, and that rate was good until February 20th.  Seeing as how it was almost February 20th and I hadn’t heard anything, I figured I’d give the refinance department a call.

A call to the previous representative landed me with an operator who said there had been some changes made in the refinance department, and I had a new representative handling my application.   After talking to that person, it was evident that the data requested from the IRS didn’t quite make it to her desk.  Go figure.

Since the previous person had requested the information, the new handler didn’t have access to the information, if it even showed up from the office of Uncle Sam at all.  So the information had to be requested again.

But what about the rate?

There was still the question about what was going to happen on February 20th if we hadn’t closed on the refinance.  I was assured that they would hurry the application through, and pass it on to underwriting as soon as possible.

I also asked that they submit a rate extension, which I was told would be no problem.

So the application is still in the works, but should be finalized any day now.

Finance interest rates, refinance, Wachovia