There are several types of mortgages offered by lenders in the market. The most common of these types is fixed rate mortgages. Fixed rate mortgage loans are characterized by fixed rates and monthly payments that are generally for a 15-year and 30-year periods.

Fixed rate mortgages are popular in the consumer market because of its stability. Most consumers are hesitant to get house loans where the rates fluctuate with the changing interest rates of the market. Fixed rate mortgages are generally very affordable, especially when rates are low.

As the name would suggest, the fixed rate mortgages are loans that has constant payments. By constant I don’t mean that they will be due every month (although they will), rather I refer to the fact that they do not change. If you get a fixed rate mortgage and the payments are $900 per month, they will remain at $900 for the duration of your loan. Nothing changes, it is set in stone, and you can set your clock by it, $900 a month for 30 years.

These types of loans are repaid over a shorter duration, thereby enabling the borrowers to build their equity relatively faster. When compared to the 30-year mortgages, the total interest paid is significantly lower. The problem is that consumers have to make higher monthly payments. Consequently, the borrowers may have to settle for smaller houses.

After taking this issue into consideration, there are also other factors that you need to bear in mind. For instance, you may lower the principal loan every month by making prepayments. In you do this; you will be able to complete your payments before the end of the stipulated duration.

Fixed rate mortgage is essentially a mortgage that stays at the same rate over the course of the contract. This can be from 5 to 30 or more years, and the rate can be pretty low too. Fixed rate mortgage is extremely beneficial, especially if you live in an area that has constantly fluctuating interest rates.

If you had a mortgage with an interest rate of about 7% to 15%, you would be pay a nice sum of money into interest, and if that value increased, you would pay even more. These higher rates can start to effect your financial situation, making it hard for you to make payments and stay on track.

When I was originating loans fulltime, I could barely get the word ARM out of my mouth, before the customer would say, “Oh no! I don’t want an adjustable mortgage. I’ve heard how the rates change and your payment skyrockets, and some people actually lose their homes. No, no, I don’t want my rate to change.” Of course, once I illustrated the thousands of dollars they would save in just a few years and quashed all of those myths about loan payments “blowing up,” most of them decided the ARM was not the “devil loan” it’s made out to be.

You may want to refinance to lower your payment, or you may just want to lower the amount of interest that will be paid over the course of the loan. A 30 year refi loan will give you a fairly low monthly payment, but at the same time you will be paying interest that will equal or exceed the principal of the loan. A 15 year refi loan may raise your monthly payment a couple of hundred dollars, but the amount of interest paid over the term of the loan will only be about half of that of the 30 year loan. When you ask for fixed rate mortgage refi quotes, you will need to specify which type of refi loan in which you are interested, or you may want to ask for quotes on both the longer and shorter refi loans.