Survey: 74% of homeowners haven’t refinanced Jeff Ostrowski and Bill McGuire Bankrate.com Many American homeowners are passing up a prime opportunity to lower their interest rates and cut their monthly payments by refinancing their loans, according to a new Bankrate survey. While the savviest homeowners already refinanced — and some have even done so twice — millions more have yet to take advantage of mortgage rates that once would have seemed unthinkably low. Among homeowners with a mortgage they’ve had since before the pandemic, 74% have not refinanced, according to the survey. Contractors Guide | FALL 2021
“The overwhelming majority of mortgage borrowers have not yet refinanced, despite record-low rates over the past year,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst. “Cutting the monthly mortgage payment by $150 or $250, possibly more, can create valuable breathing room in the household budget at a time when so many other costs are on the rise.” The most common reasons homeowners say they haven’t refinanced Among homeowners who haven’t refinanced, the most-cited reason was that they wouldn’t save enough money to warrant a refi. That choice was named by 32% of respondents. 20
“You may want to rethink that,” McBride says. “Today’s rates are at levels unseen prior to last year.” To illustrate one example, if you have a 30-year loan for $300,000 at 4%, your monthly payment is $1,432. Refinancing to 3% would cut it to $1,265, a savings of $167 a month or $2,004 a year. You can use Bankrate’s refinance calculator to see if refinancing will save you money. Closing costs and fees are the second most-frequently cited objection. Fully 27% of respondents named that as an obstacle. It’s true — closing costs can cost you thousands of dollars, typically 3 to 5 percent of the amount of the
