What Do Home Loan Points Achieve For Your Mortgage?
Of all of the things you will have to understand about your new home loan, one of the most confusing may be points. Don't get origination points (to...
Of all of the things you will have to understand about your new home loan, one of the most confusing may be points. Don’t get origination points (to pay to get the loan) confused with discount points (to lower the rate on the loan).
They are called “discount” points, since they lower the interest rate on the loan. Your interest rate is determined by a number of factors, the most important of which is your credit rating. But the interest rate is paid over the entire life of the mortgage, and so a higher rate can increase the cost of the loan significantly.
Perfect borrowers, with perfect credit histories, pay a rate known as “par”, the rate the lender expects to make on a mortgage with low risk. Everyone else will get a rate based on the credit rating. If you can reduce this rate, which lasts over the life of the loan, is it worthwhile to do so by paying points?
Well, first of all, you should check to see if your seller is willing to pay these points. This frequently occurs in a competitive real estate market when sellers have to make the sale as attractive as they can.
But if you are paying the points, let’s calculate the savings. If you were given a mortgage at 6% on a $100,000 home, should you pay 2 points to lower it?
If the home loan is for 30 years, two points will lower your 6% mortgage to 5.5%. How will this affect the total costs of your mortgage? The up front payment is $2,000 (2 points on a $100,000 mortgage). Will you recover that cost over time?
You can probably find a calculator on the net that can calculate the savings for you.
Let’s say you choose the option of paying 2 points at a cost of $2,000 to reduce your mortgage rate to 5.5%. Interest: $104,404.04 Total Payments: $204,404.04 Mortgage Payment: $567.79.
Your monthly payment would be $31.76 less each month, and the total repayment sum would be $11,434.15 less. This is the reason many people choose to pay points on their loans.
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