Consider the Cash In Refinance

If the daily updates touting the Lowest mortgage rates in our lifetime" are driving you crazy, chances are you'd love to refinance but don't have the equity or credit rating to do so. And you're probably sick of every mortgage article basically telling you how stupid you are for not refinancing when current 5/1 hybrid rates are as low as 3.5%.

If you're planning on keeping your home for a while look into a cash-in refinance.

So even if your equity position isn't strong enough to get approved right now, for example you bought with a low down payment or you have less than 20%???? home equity now, you could get approved if you brought some money to the table.

Advantages: eliminate or avoid mortgage insurance, lower your monthly payment, and pay less interest over your loan's lifetime.

Don't have the ready cash? Run the numbers and see if borrowing from your 401(k) might be a good investment. Remember, you're only borrowing from yourself. And money taken from a retirement account that is still being put to work may be money well-spent. Finally, you'll be able to repay that retirement account with the money you save each month by refinancing.

For example,

If you have a 6% interest rate that you've been stuck with because you lack the home equity to refinance, and could get 3.5% on a 5/1 at current mortgage rates, the difference in monthly payment on a $400,000 mortgage is about $500 a month! Put that toward repaying your retirement account, then keep investing it and your future could look very nice in five years. And then you can tune out all that annoying mortgage news.