RCG’s Jillayne Schlicke was interviewed on King 5 last night…I wish her spot would have been longer.  Check her out here!  The piece is about resetting subprime adjustable rate mortgages.   King 5’s, Chris Daniels reports that locally, we’ll see around 12,000 subprime mortgages reset over the next 6 months.  Combined with lower home values and tougher underwriting guidelines, if home owners are not able to swing their new payment or refinance, may be in a tough situation. 

I thought this would be a good opportunity to go over how to determine what your new mortgage payment may be in the event you have an adjustable rate mortgage.  This does not only apply to borrowers with subprime mortgages–this is for anyone with an adjustable rate.  

First, drag out your Note for your mortgage.  

In your Note, you will find the following information that you will need in order to determine what your payment may be once your mortgage adjusts:

• Index/Indice — this is what your rate is based on.  Most common are LIBOR, Treasury, MTA, etc.   It can vary so you need to determine this.  The index is a variable and not a fixed figure.
• Margin — the margin is added to the index to determine what your new rate will be.
• CAPS — caps limit how much your rate can adjust at the first adjustment, every adjustment following and provides a lifetime limit on how high or low the rate can adjust.
• Start Date — when you started paying your mortgage.
• Fixed period term — is your ARM fixed for 2, 3, 5… years (etc).
• Amortization — Does your mortgage offer an interest only feature?  Do you have negative amortization? 

If your mortgage is set to adjust within the next 6 months, I especially recommend that you go through the following exercise.   I’ve been sending letters to my clients with adjustables that are set to adjust with this information:

Start Date:  May 1, 2003

Start Interest Rate:  4.125%

CAPS (first/after first/lifetime):  5/2/5 (Lifetime CAP: 9.125%)

Margin/Index:  2.75%/1 Year LIBOR – 3.16 as of June 1, 2008 (currently 3.22)

Start loan amount:  $131,500

Fixed Period:  60 Months

First Adjustment Date:  June 1, 2008 and adjusting annually on June 1 for the remaining life of the loan.

This is not a subprime loan.  Many subprime loans have much higher CAPS and margins.   This is a classic 5/1 LIBOR ARM.   This home owner has not refinanced nor do they need to.  Their rate is attractive compared to current market. 

Based on their estimated balance (assuming they did not pay additional towards principal over the last 5 years) of approx. $118,500; their rate for the next 12 months will be 6.00%.  (Index from when the mortgage reset: 3.16 plus the margin of 2.75 = 5.91.  This is rounded up to the nearest 0.125%).   6.00% is a pretty good rate for not having to pay closing costs to refinance as long as you can tolerate the annual adjustments (which may work in your favor or not).   Their pricipal and interest payment will be approx. $763.50. (balance at adjustment/projected interest rate/remaining term of 25 years).

On June 2009, the highest this rate can be is 8% since there is a 2% annual cap.  The lowest the rate can be is 4%.  The most the rate can change on the anniversary of the change date is up or down 2% from the current rate.  It can never go beyond the lifetime cap of 5% plus the Note rate (9.125%) and it can never be lower than the margin of 2.75%.

How will your ARM treat you?  It all depends on the term of your Note and what the Index is when it adjusts.   This reset I’ve reviewed here is prettier than most–especially compared to subprime.   With FHA and Conforming Jumbo loan limits being reduced at the end of this year, I would consider meeting with your Mortgage Professional sooner rather than later if your ARM has you feeling itchy.