I want to remortgage my house to take advantage of the super low interest rates, but my balance is so small no place will even consider it, and for the ones that will consider it the closing fees dwarf any potential savings so I am stuck with my 5.5% mortgage until it's paid off. (loan balance is $42k)
I also want to remortgage my wife's house but it has the same problem (5.25% on $48 loan).
Have you looked into Home Equity Loans or Adjustable Rate Mortgages at credit unions?
Home Equity Loans: In recent times, 5 year term can sometimes be had close to 3%. Even 10-15 year terms can beat your rate by over a percent. HELs typically charge minimal closing costs. Assuming your income supports the payment, you can finance the entire balance to the loan.
Adjustable Rate Mortgages: These rightfully receive a lot of criticism as many people didn't understand the risk involved with these. Many times these offer no closing costs. If you have a sure plan pay off in 5-10 years some of these can save a lot of money over higher rates.
Penfed sometimes runs no closing cost specials but I don't believe they are currently. The 5/5 loan gives you 5-10 can be a years to pay at a really great rate. (Easy to qualify for since the amortization is based on 30 years. - I.e. they expect you to pay the minimum and have to pay higher interest later in the loan.) No one knows for sure what rates will do, but I always assume the worst. I would get this planning to have paid off within 5 years, and 10 years at the most.
Penfed also tends to have good Home Equity Loan rates. - Last I knew, anyone can join Penfed by making a donation.
- Check any local credit unions that may be running specials.
I started biking everywhere so now I need to buy fuel stabilizer for my car since it only gets driven one every few months.
I didn't know such a thing existed. Looks like I should probably get some!
Yep, some vehicles are more sensitive than others. I have a 500cc corroborated motorcycle and it ran like crap after being parked for a couple months. (I ended up putting the gas in my car which ran fine. A bad idea, but I didn't care at the time. - A few cents worth of stabilizer will save you a lot of work / repair bills)
Fuel stabilizer is much better deal when bought in larger quantities. If you know someone around that has lots of toys like motorcycles, boats, etc. you might ask to buy a small portion from them or split some. If you are consistently leaving your car parked, and / or aren't worried about taking up the extra space, a liter bottle should last you a number of years.