I was checking around to see what the current mortgage rates are. I wanted to compare them to the mortgage refinance rates one year ago this month. This would tell us whether to believe the recent hype in the media about rising rates, and now being a bad time to refinance your mortgage. For current rates I am using the rates I was quoted through LendingTree.com a couple of days ago. They ranged from from 5.625% to 6.125%. This covered both fixed rate mortgages for 15 years or 30 years and 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages. 

So knowing the current interest rates for mortgage refinance, what were the rates one year ago this month? What were mortgage interest rates in November of 2005, when refinance was in decline but still very popular. Here is what I found at BusinessWeek from November of 2005:

5.83% - Lowest rate from Bankrate.com
6.37% - Lowest rate from Freddie Mac Corp.
6.44% - Lowest rate from HSH Associates Inc.

Peter Coy at Business Week said in November of 2005 that Bankrate’s most recent press release quotes their current mortgage rate at 6.42%. Wow, that is a big difference from 5.83%! He contacted a financial analyst who explained that the higher rate is an average of the top 10 metropolitan markets, while the lower rate is the rate offered by Bankrate’s own advertisers.

So mortgage rates in November of 2005 ranged from 5.83% to 6.44%, while the Lending Tree network of lenders is quoting an interest rate range from 5.625% to 6.125%. Check out my Lending Tree Review to read more about the rates they quoted me.

So, contrary to what the media has been telling us, it seems that now is a much better time to refinance your mortgage than November of last year. The Fed has stopped raising interest rates for the time being, and they may decide not to raise the rates again next time. If you have been waiting for the right time to refinance, it seems the time is now. If you have been trapped in an ARM that is just starting to adjust, then it may be the safest bet to refinance into a fixed rate mortgage at this time. This will protect you from future interest rate hikes.