This couple refinanced to a low rate
Do you have an FHA loan? Do you have over a 6% interest rate? Well if you do, what are you waiting for? FHA streamlines are as good as gold these days but they are not always going to be easy to get. Today, streamlining an FHA loan really doesn’t take that much effort. There is no appraisal or income verification. Really, the only requirements now are: You must have at least a 620 credit score, be employed and have an FHA or VA loan, that’s it. Soon that will all change, by the end of the year streamlines will require an appraisal and we all know what that means. If you don’t have equity in your home (which most home owners don’t anymore) that means that lenders will not approve a streamline refinance. This is going to pose a big problem for those of you who haven’t taken advantage of streamlining your FHA or VA loan yet. Anybody with one of these loans that also has a high interest rate probably should refinance with a streamline soon, especially if you’re not sure if you have equity in your home or not. Most likely if you bought your home more than 2 years ago you don’t. I’m not saying that you’ll need equity in your home for the purposes of taking money out, because that’s not what a streamline is about, but at this moment lenders are paying off up to 105% of what you owe on your home without finding out what the home is worth. In the future this will soon change; lenders will require an appraisal and if your home isn’t worth more than what they are paying off the lenders won’t approve the refinance. So if you are thinking about doing a streamline refinance, I would suggest not waiting any longer. You can get a rate somewhere in the mid to low 5’s depending on your situation. But if you keep waiting any longer you might not qualify in the future.
