Sunday, February 26, 2012

Beware: Mortgage Fees Are Rising

Increased fees are sneaking into the overall cost of most mortgages. But given the ultralow interest rates these days, it's likely few borrowers will notice.

Mortgage rates are clinging near record lows, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.95% for the week ended Feb. 23, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of rates for conventional mortgages.

Still, consumers should pay attention to any fee increases because they could very well be a sign of what's to come: increasingly higher costs to get a government-backed mortgage, whether it's a conforming loan sold to government-sponsored entities Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae or a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, says Guy D. Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade magazine for the residential mortgage business.

Read the rest of the article at the Wall Street Journal

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