Lazy Man and Money

  • Blog
  • Home
  • About
    • What I’m Doing Now
  • Consumer Protection
    • Is Le-vel Thrive a Scam?
    • Is Jusuru a Scam?
    • Is Beachbody’s Shakeology a Scam?
    • Is “It Works” a Scam?
    • Is Neora (Nerium) a Scam?
    • Youngevity Scam?
    • Are DoTERRA Essential Oils a Scam?
    • Is Plexus a Scam?
    • Is Jeunesse a Scam?
    • Is Kangen Water a Scam?
    • ViSalus Scam Exposed!
    • Is AdvoCare a Scam?
  • Contact
  • Archive

Lower the Interest Rate on Your Mortgage Without Refinancing?

February 2, 2009 by Lazy Man 37 Comments

On my trip to Boston a couple of weeks ago, I met up with a couple of my best friends from college. One is probably more into personal finance than me – but he’s just not the blogging type. He can dazzle with Excel and Quicken and probably could tell you exactly how much money he has to the penny with a single click. The other friend is a lawyer specializing in real estate. When I closed on my condo purchase, he was the guy I went to and it was smooth sailing.

Somehow, we got onto topics of the economy. We gabbed about the sub-prime crisis. They thought that the mortgage holders were to blame because it’s their responsibility to know what they can afford and not get sucked in a mortgage lender/salesman. I took a different view and thought it was the mortgage lender, because they are expert trying to explain a topic that most people are unfamiliar with (mortgages) and pushing them into more complex vehicles with escalating interest rates. The answer is that it’s probably a combination of the the two. It’s almost like a homerun in baseball, sometimes the hitter does a tremendous job of hitting a good pitch and sometimes the pitcher does a lousy job of pitching the ball making the hitter’s job easy… and there’s a lot of homeruns that fall in between those extremes.

We also got on the topic of mortgage rates. They are historically extremely low right now. I lamented that I couldn’t take advantage of the low rates. I had lost a lot of the equity on my home and if I tried to refinance I wouldn’t have the 20% down that mortgage lenders like to see – especially in this market. I am also self-employed (with a less than impressive income) which probably doesn’t make them light up with joy. Lastly, since I moved to California and now rent the Boston condo, it’s not owner-occupied – yet another thing that banks would like to see. That’s three pretty decent strikes against me if I’m looking to lower my rate from 5.875% to some of the 4.875% rates available today.

My lawyer/real estate guru friend told me the solution was simple. He asked me if I came up as self-employed or unemployed on credit reports (I admit that I don’t know this). He said that if I showed up as unemployed, it would be very easy to get a lower rate. I could simply call up the lender and tell them that the ecomony is bad and ask if they could lower the rate – no refinance or paperwork necessary. The theory is that lenders would rather give you a lower rate than risk not getting paid and having to deal yet another foreclosure.

What do you think? I think it sounds plausible and my source is rock solid. Still something sounds almost a little too good be true. Is this possible? Has anyone out there been in a similar situation and tried it?

Filed Under: Real Estate Tagged With: banks, interest rates, mortgage lender, mortgage lenders, mortgage rates, mortgages, sub prime crisis

As Seen In…

Join and Follow

RSS Feed
RSS Feed

Follow Me on Pinterest

Search The Site

Recent Comments

  • Wesley on The Google Pixel Watch is an Unmitigated Disaster, but…
  • Lazy Man on The Google Pixel Watch is an Unmitigated Disaster, but…
  • Wesley on The Google Pixel Watch is an Unmitigated Disaster, but…
  • Lazy Man on The Google Pixel Watch is an Unmitigated Disaster, but…
  • David on The Google Pixel Watch is an Unmitigated Disaster, but…

Please note that we may have a financial relationship with the companies mentioned on this site. We frequently review products or services that we have been given access to for free. However, we do not accept compensation in any form in exchange for positive reviews, and the reviews found on this site represent the opinions of the author.


© Copyright 2006-2023 · Perfect Plan Publishing, Inc. · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · A Narrow Bridge Media Design