Mortgage payment calculator and many more topics
Value decreases have caused decreases in homeowner equity, and in some cases homeowners now own so little equity that they are not eligible for mortgage refinancing. Nearly half of the homes that were bought in the last 5 years in one county in California have dropped below what their owners bought them for. The higher credit scores and spotless credit records now required for mortgage refinancing mean that fewer consumers now meet the standards. A minimum of 700 is the credit score bar for many banks now. Many financial analysts believe that interest rates will remain low the next few months, since the federal government agreed to purchase $500 billion of mortgage backed securities in the hopes that it would spur lower lending rates and encourage consumers to take on new mortgages.