The economy today is in shambles, but you already knew that. You can’t avoid the widespread media coverage about lost jobs, lower consumer spending, tight credit and the impact that is having on all of us. The government is spending billions of dollars to try to bail us out of this mess with limited success. There is one thing that you can do today if you are a homeowner which could have immediate impact to your personal economic condition and help the greater economy as a whole and that is refinance your home. I am on a personal crusade to convince everyone that I know who has a mortgage to refinance because it could rescue our economy one person at a time. 30 year fixed mortgage rates are currently hovering around 4.75%, which is lower than I’ve experienced in my adult lifetime and may be as low as we will ever see again. It doesn’t matter to me who the people I talk to go with (while I would love them to come to Verity), the considerable savings that can be had right now by refinancing is more important than that.

For example, if you have a loan balance of $250,000 and your current mortgage rate is 6.50%, your monthly principal & interest payment is $1,580. That same loan using today’s rates would have a payment of $1,304, which is a monthly savings of $276!

Quick disclaimer: This example is based on Verity’s rates as of 01/09/2009 and rates can change at any time.

The crux of my crusade is that everyone needs to lower their mortgage payment. I know that if my payment goes down by $276 per month, I am going to spend some portion of that savings on groceries, gas, entertainment; whatever. The key point is that some portion of my savings is going back into the economy in the form of increased spending. Increased spending will translate into an improving economy…it’s that simple.

Really…I don’t care if you come to Verity or not. Go to your current mortgage broker, credit union, community bank or Verity. Just please look into this and if it makes sense for you, lower your mortgage payment and put some dollars back into our economy.