We currently have 3.5% fixed rate on a 30 year mortgage (7 years into it). Rates are decreasing so we met with a local credit union to explore options. They gave us a quote for 15 years at 2.75% with approximately $2500 in closing costs. This will be slightly less if they don't have to assess our home.
We also have a Mortgage Credit Certificate when we purchased the house, which gives us a 20% return on the interest we pay every year for the life of the loan. If I'm doing math correctly, that effectively gives us a 2.8% interest rate (20% off 3.5%). If we refinance, we lose this benefit.
We plan to pay off the mortgage, and made extra payments for a while until we got really mustachey and decided to put those extra payments in a taxable mortgage account (VTSAX) so we can make a lump sum and pay it all off when it reaches the amount we owe.
We are thinking with these numbers, it makes no sense to refinance in our situation. Can anyone else give a good reason why we would? Or any other insight?