Reasons for Refinancing: Three Homeowners, Three Compelling Goals

At Zions Bank, we meet with customers whose reasons for wanting to refinance mortgages vary. Here are three stories from three home owners who leveraged a mortgage refinance to meet their personal financial goals.

Refinance Reason 1: Lesson Debt Burden

Hillary and Steve Lund set a goal for their retirement: To live debt-free.

The Montpelier, Idaho, couple created a 10-year plan get rid of all debt, which includes paying off mortgages on their primary residence and their rental properties. The Lund’s ultimate goal is to own their rental properties outright, allowing them to generate income to support themselves in retirement.

“We’re hoping to have all of them paid off in 10 years so that we’ll be more prepared for retirement,” says Hillary, 44, who with her husband, Steve, 48, owns and operates a construction company. “We were looking at different options of how we could do that.”

The Lunds’ banker, Bear Lake Valley Financial Center Assistant Manager Diana Christensen, introduced them to Zions’ Home Refinance Loan, which was designed to help homeowners shave years off of their mortgage while streamlining the application process.

The Lunds used the Home Refinance Loan to consolidate a large portion of their debt and lock in the interest rate. “The refinance did help us establish a goal and gave us means to work toward that goal more quickly,” Hillary says. 

In addition to fixed interest rates, the Home Refinance Loan offers:

Refinance Reason 2: Locking in Interest Rates

For Tim Roberts, Zions’ Home Refinance Loan offered the opportunity to move away from a variable interest rate to a fixed interest rate, which can be a smart move in a rising interest rate environment.

"I track the stock market, and I’m in tune with what the Fed is doing,” explains Roberts, who recently retired from active duty in the Idaho National Guard. “I had an outstanding home equity credit line with a balance that I wanted to convert from a variable interest rate to a fixed interest rate before rates went up any higher.”

That desire coincided with a letter he received from Zions Bank informing him that his home equity credit line had reached its maturity date. He brought the letter into the Zions Bank Eagle and Chinden Financial Center in Boise and worked with Executive Banking Relationship Manager Kim Nadler.

Roberts says the refinance application and approval process went “pretty smoothly. Not to say that there wasn’t a lot of paperwork, because there was. But we did this whole thing online, which made it streamlined, and it allowed me to do it at my leisure.”

Roberts was also pleasantly surprised to learn that he could reduce the interest rate on his home refinance loan by making automated loan payments directly from his Zions account.

Refinance Reason 3: Looking for a Local Banker

For Trentan Frerichs, moving his mortgage to Zions Bank was all about the personal touch. “I was looking to refinance my home and get it through a different bank because I was having some problems with the bank I was with,” he explains. “They were in Florida and I could never talk to them, I always had to wait on the phone.”

He worked with Heidi Ruiz, assistant manager of the Weiser, Idaho, financial center, to refinance into a 10-year mortgage. But the 25-year-old welder hopes to pay off the debt even sooner than that.

Mortgage free by age 35? A debt-free retirement? The answer is yes for these savvy savers. Talk to a Zions Bank banker today about whether a Home Refinance Loan is right for you.

*Loans subject to credit approval; terms and conditions apply. Payment information - The following sample payments are based on estimated information: Loan amount of $150,000 at a fixed APR of 4.465% for seven years yields 84 monthly payments of $2,075.62. Loan amount of $150,000 at a fixed APR of 4.665% for 10 years yields 120 monthly payments of $1,559.28. Max 80% Loan to Value (LTV). Payments do not include amounts for taxes and insurance and your actual payment may be higher. APR is based on credit-worthiness and other factors. Your actual APR may be higher. Contact branch for full details.