What are Mortgage Points

The Fees a borrower pays a lender to lower the Interest Rate is known as Mortgage Points. Each Mortgage Point costs one percent of the loan amount and typically one Mortgage Point lowers the Interest rate of the borrower by .25% depending upon the lender. For example, on a 500,000 loan with an Interest Rate of 4.75%, one point would cost the borrower 5000.00 and would reduce the Interest rate to 4.5%. The process is also referred to as a Buy Down or Purchasing Mortgage Points. The buy down interest rate varies by the lender.

The Mortgage Points are paid at closing and are listed on the Loan Estimate (LE) and the Closing Disclosure (CD). Buying Down or Purchasing points may not work for certain borrowers. For example, if you purchase two points at closing and sell the house after three years, a Buy Down may not make sense. 

In order to arrive a number for a Break Even point, (to determine how long it would take you to recover the cost of buy down), divide the total amount paid for buy down by the amount saved on the monthly payments to arrive a number for the number of months to break even. Example, if you paid 5000.00 for the buy down and save 60.00 a month, 5000/60= 83 months to break even. 



Related Topics:          The Loan Estimate (LE)                The Closing Disclsoure (CD)                Good Faith Estimate (GFE)                Conventional Loans               FHA Loans                VA Loans                USDA Loans                A Fixed Rate Mortgage                What is an Adjustable rate Mortgage? What are Payment options for an adjustable-rate mortgage? Explain Facts on margin with respect to adjustable-rate mortgages                 What is "Cash out refinance"?                

_____________

Apply Online       Check Loan Status      Upload Documents    Call Us: (214)699-4790


Back to Consumer Mortgage FAQ's