It’s not always a good idea to refinance a mortgage simply to lower the Monthly Payment.

Before you refinance a 30 year mortgage which has 26 years to go, and take a new 30 year loan, you must compare the total amount which will be paid over the life of each loan before deciding whether it makes economic sense.

The smartest way to take advantage of lower interest rates would be to calculate the amount you would have to pay each month in order to have the new loan paid off in 26 years, and then make an extra payment each month to achieve that highly desirable result.

If the new lower payment plus the extra to make it a 26 year loan is less than the amount you are currently paying then go for it. If not then you should reconsider other options before proceeding.

I cannot go into details regarding other options within a simple post such as this, but I can assure you they do exist. However the regular Loan Officer is not going to bring them to your attention.