Hey everyone. I purchased a home here in Florida back in April of '07 right when the sub prime market was in full melt down. I went ahead with a adjustable 3/1 loan with a rate of 9.3% knowing that I had no other option since my credit score at the time was about 616. Since that time, I have paid all mortgage payments on time and early as well as paid down most of my credit card debt. (Have about $500 still on the cards) I'm looking to refinance into a 30 year fixed with hopefully a better rate than 9.3%. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of rate I should be expecting to get? Also, should I wait till I have a full years worth of mortgage payments under my belt or does that matter? Any help as always is greatly appreciated. Have a good one.

I'm not sure if you've talked to anyone regarding this yet. Since this was posted in February.

How many credit cards do you have?
How do you have an other loans (auto or other) that would report on your credit?
Is 659 your "middle" of your three credit scores?
What's your debt-to-income? (All your payments divided by your income you can prove through taxes)
How much do you owe on your home?
How much do you think your home is worth realistically?
Is this your sole residence or do you own other property?
Do you also have cash reserves and assets in a bank? How much?

Credit Score and Loan to Value (owe / worth) will have an affect on your rate directly.
Your DTI (debt-to-income) will affect your type of loan approval if it's too high, which could then affect your rate as well.

If you can provide me with this information, I can give you a good idea of the rate you should be getting in Florida.

Good morning,
To answer your question in a simplified way, based on very little information, yes, you should be able to lower your rate. However, know that there are critical things that can hinder the best rate in today's market. Whatever value it was appraised at last April, is still its value, and very well could have even dropped slightly in your area. I am familiar with Florida and its been one of the hardest hit states in its declining market values.

The last post is correct and how much your loan needs to be compared to its value (LTV) does affect the rate. The higher the loan (the lower the equity) the higher the risk, which in turns means a higher rate. The general rule of thumb is the more risk you add to the loan the higher the rate will be. So if your debt to income ratio is high, the rate gets a hit. The higher the LTV, another hit to the rate, and so on.

I would advice you to look at refinancing your loan now, as I cannot imagine you can't lower that rate. Also be aware that pre-payment penalties are still very popular in Florida make sure you don't have one and if you do, you need to look at what it will cost you to pay it off and if it still makes sense to refinance your loan.