I need your help with VA IRRRL Lenders!

[Christopher Haile]

Hello BP! I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I currently have a VA loan on my primary residence at 3.75%. After getting several advertisements in the mail to refinance the loan with a VA IRRRL I decided to start making some calls and asked a few friends if they had heard of it. It looks pretty solid so I started calling different banks to see what they could offer me. I have about $13,000 in equity on the house and a good to excellent credit score. So far North American Savings Bank has been the only bank I have found that can compete with my current bank, Wells Fargo both at 3.25%. I also have the option to buy points and get that rate down to 2.875%. I haven't talked to Wells Fargo about buying points to lower the rate but the upfront fees/costs are way higher compared to NASB. I want to pay cash for closing costs and funding fees because I don't want to put any more on the mortgage and take away from the equity. Refinancing with Wells Fargo at 3.25% will cost $3100 up front and save me $16,000 over the life of the 30 year loan. Refinancing with NASB at 3.25% will cost $1500 up front and save the same $16,000; and the 2.875% rate would cost about $4500 up front and save $20,000 over the life of the loan. So my questions are....

1. Does anyone know a VA IRRRL lender that could do better?

2. What else should I be asking these banks?

3. Does anyone have experience with NASB? 

I'm a little cautious about going with a bank I have never heard of but not against it if it will save me $20,000. I have already checked with Chase and Everbank who were both recommended to me and they couldn't do better than 3.75%. I have looked online but haven't found many lenders that talk about VA IRRRL specifically. This post ended up being way longer than I wanted it to be! Thanks in advance for all of the help. I plan to comment or repost when I decide who to go with and how the deal works out so others can learn from it!

[Chris Mason]

VA IRRRL is a great program.

The documentation and underwriting standards are so minimal (compared to a fannie loan, and ESPECIALLY compared to a VA purchase loan) that lenders can offer stupid competitive interest rate pricing, which you've seen, because the labor is just soooo minimal.

So much so that, IMO, a veteran is foolish to shop rate on the purchase... unless the 2012-201? era of historically low rates literally ends right after you buy your home, you WILL refinance your VA purchase mortgage.

I personally jacked my primary residence's VA rate to the top of the rate sheet on the purchase, collected a $10k check at the closing table, paid the trivially higher monthly payment ("trivial" relative to $10k) for six months, then VA IRRRL'd it into my permanent financing based on day-trading (granted I have an unfair advantage there).

3.25% vs 2.875%? It's as close to free money as is available to anyone in the United States either way. I wouldn't (and didn't) buy the rate down.