vikingshelmut

I'm in the process of getting ready to refi, and I was curious if anyone can recommend a good reputable bank with the best rate on a 30 year fixed. My credit is 800+, and my LTV will be below 75%. Any recommendations? Eric

No, I don't believe so.

So BofA closed a CC that I have with them due to inactivity. When I called them today they said they could reopen it if I want, but before I do I want to be sure I understand what will happen to my credit. When reopening a closed tradeline, does the old tradeline that now says "closed" change back to "active" (or what ever it's called), or does a new tradeline appear with a start date of the day it was reopened? From the discussion it doesn't sound like I get a new number, so I'd guess it would be the former (which is good since I'm also guessing that all the history on that account would be maintained) but I want to be sure.

Am I really jumbo? That link I posted to the fhfa website says FHA conforming for my area (San Jose) is anything below $625,500. Am I reading this wrong? This is what I'm afraid of. I'm fine with the two rates you referenced, but not at 6%. How fast can you approve us? :-) I'm sorry, you lost me. If you are referencing something from a previous discussion please PM me.

So our broker is now telling me that Jumbo FHA rates went up to 6% today (from 5.5%). I am one week from the end of the two week financial contingency period, and I just can't help but feel that things are getting worse. I'm so frustrated. What good is all of this BS about "helping people buy houses" if the banks keep jacking people around? Scenario: - Average credit score 710 - House price $560k - 5% down - No debt - Income over $150k Since we can't put more than 5% down, we've been told FHA is the only route we have. I've been told however that because we live in a high cost area (San Jose) our loan amount is a "Jumbo" FHA loan, not conforming. WTF? Why do I keep hearing that high cost areas have better rate limits when it seems like we never see these rates? According to the FHA website, the conforming loan limit is $625,500. If so why are we not being told the same? Why are we being told we only qualify for a jumbo FHA loan? I just don't know what to do here. I'll be the first to say that I made a mistake. After getting some help from Brian B a while ago I was planning on submitting our loan docs to him to see what we could qualify for. Suddenly we heard back that an offer on a short sale we had made more then 2 months ago was accepted, so I assumed it was too late to send him our application. I wish I would have.

Thanks for the info. BTW, is that site I mentioned a good source for "real" FHA rates? I noticed that today it's still reported at 5%, but when I went to another unnamed "stagecoach" bank and they had the 30yr FHA at 5.5%. Why the difference? Which is accurate? Is there somewhere I can go to get an idea as to what the best FHA rate is for our loan amount ($542k)? I use various sites to track it daily but I question their accuracy.

Then I would think that if we are being quoted a point on a 500k plus loan that would mean no YSP correct?

Sorry didn't realize I couldn't link to that site... 1. That's good to hear, as our scores are way above 620 2. If I'm already paying an upfront origination fee should I be getting no YSP? 3. Good to know, I'll have to keep an eye out to see if they go lower.

So I noticed that today on the Mortgage Insider they are listing the current best FHA rate at 5% with .125 YSP Edited to remove Link I have a few questions about this: 1. How does one qualify for this best FHA rate? I know there are certain credit score requirements (I think it's over 620), but is there anything else? As long as you put down at least 5% does your LTV ratio matter? Anything else I need to consider to ensure we get this rate? 2. What do they mean when they say "with .125% in YSP"? Does that mean that the rate they listed includes that .125% or that needs to be added to the 5% (5.125%)? 3. Do FHA rates have the ability to dip below 5%? While conventional loan rates seem to have dipped below that 5%, I have yet to see the FHA rates go below that mark.

Awesome, this was perfect! So according to the site Santa Clara County the conforming rate limit is $625,500 at the "conforming plus/conforming HB" level which is what we fall beneath. That means I could expect an approx .375-.625% rate hit above true conforming par (as of today I think that was 5%) when applying for a conventional loan above 417k but below 625k, correct? One question regarding FHA though. From the page you referenced, for FHA forward it only shows the same $625,500 limit, but makes no mention of it being a "FHA Jumbo". Is it still a jumbo loan?

So I'm totally confused about what the new loan guidelines are for 2009. From what I've read, in most areas it's still below 417k for conforming, above 625k for jumbo, and in-between is some sort of tiered rate structure (I can't find any clarification on this). As I understand it though, the guidelines differ if you are buying in a high-cost area as I am (San Jose area). Can anyone tell me what the guidelines are in a high-cost area? I want to know if a 500k loan is considered conforming or something else in the San Jose area.

The par rates I've been tracking have not been jumbo either. I was looking for both the par conforming rate from 11/19 (sounds like around 5.75%) to compare with the par conforming rate from 1/21 (5%). I can then do the following: A ) Original GFE 11/19: 5.75% (conforming par) 6.125% (quoted non-conforming) .375% (delta) I can assume from this that the .375% difference was caused by 1) credit hits 2) "confumbo" hit 3) unknowns B ) New GFE 1/21: 5% (conforming par) 6.5% (quoted non-conforming) 1.5% (delta) I can assume from this that the 1.5 difference was caused by 1) credit hits 2) "confumbo" hit 3) unknowns If all things are equal (no poor credit issues between A & B, both are "confumbo" or what ever the industry chooses to call it, and the remaining unknowns are the same), I would have thought the delta for both scenarios would been about same (~.375%). This is why I'm confused. I've heard that the way confumbo rates are calculated now differ then from before, but I can't imagine that would make up the 1.125% difference between the two deltas. I hope this makes sense. I realize I'm making a lot of assumptions, but the logic seems right doesn't it?

Hi Brian, nice talking to you again :-) The loan would fall between conforming and jumbo, aprox $490k and for 30 years fixed. AFAIK that means by default a higher rate since we are above 417k but below 650k (I've heard this is no longer "confumbo" but some sort of tiered structure). According to the broker, the average of my wife's and my two median credit scores is around 705. I'm checking on this for accuracy because last time I checked my median was 756 and my wife's was 716. (BTW I just realized that my sig is showing up instead of my score tracker, and the data in the sig is way old). There are numerous things listed in the GFE: 1 discount point of 1% to pay the interest? (not sure what this is or means, as it wasn't on our first GFE) Processing Underwriting Escrow Title Insurance Transfer Tax etc.

Is there a website where I can lookup par rates for specific dates? I've seen themortgageinsider website, and they only go back to 12/03 but I would like to get the par rate from 11/19. The reason is that back on 11/19 we got a GFE from a broker with an interest rate of 6.125%. We just put an offer in on a house on 1/21 and had to redo all of our paperwork. Much to my surprise we were given an interest rate of 6.5%! I was surprised to see a higher rate since rates had gone down so far since 11/19. I'd like to see what par was on 11/19, compare it with the rate on the old GFE then compare the par rate on 1/21 with our new rate from the new GFE. Nothing should have changed since our last approval financially, so I'd like to try this approach to see if for example par was 5.5% on 1/10 and our GFE rate was 6.125, then we were .6125 above par. I can then take this and compare it to the current delta between par and our new GFE (about 1.5%). I just can't help but feel like I'm getting screwed here so it would be nice to have some sort of baseline to work from.

Don't you mean soft inquiries?