How do i know if its worth it for me to refinance my house?

Jazmine
are there any free tools out there that will help me determine my interest rate and what should i watch out for (eg: hidden fees)?thanks in advance!

Edmond
Refinancing will cost you thousands of dollars. There are no free refinances, it is going to cost you somewhere. Also, you may have a pre-payment penalty on your current mortgage that may also negate any savings by a reduced interest rate. If you are going to stay in your home at least 5 years and you receive at least 1% lower interest rate, this may pencil.There are calculators that will help you, bankrate has a good one (although you have to wade through a bunch of popups...)

Carmella
You need to ask yourself some questions.1.) What is your present interest rate? When you got your mortgage, the interest rate was listed, as it is a required disclosure. If you can't find your mortgage papers, your mortgage company should have a web site that you can go to in order to look it up. They will, at least have a phone number. This will let you know where you are. 2.) Why do you want to refinance? If you need money short term, you would be better off using a home equity loan or line of credit. If you are trying to reduce your monthly payment by extending the length of the mortgage, this will work but it will be expensive. When you refinance, you incur closing costs -- much like you did when you initially took out your mortgage. The general rule of thumb is that you save enough more than your increased closing costs if you get a rate that is 2% or more lower than your present interest rate. The best reason to refinance is that you are changing from an adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage and you want to lock in these historically low rates while you can.A free web site that will help you decide is http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/hom… This is the Motley Fool and they have all kinds of good financial advice.

Maryanne
Rule of thumb is if the new rate is 2% or greater, less then your current rate, go for it. Anything else is a losing proposition.