My wife and I  purchased a home in the summer of 2010 at 4.5% with GMAC. We both had excellent credit and at the time 4.5% was about the best rate for a conventional Fannie-Freddie loan with 20% down. About 6 months later, spring 2011 rates were dropping again to all time lows. It was around late summer 2011 I considered refinancing to a 4.00% fixed. After making a few inquiries with several local lenders there was the distinct possibility our home was under valued and therefore a less than the desired 80-20 debt to value ratio all the lenders we spoke to required without PMI. I decided it wasn’t worth paying $400 for an appraisal plus an unnecessary ding on our credit for an inquiry just to find out we qualified but there would be the additional PMI (payment mortgage insurance) due to the under valued appraisal as well as other closing fees.

PMI: That's $4,500 on top to us right off for only a $100 drop in our monthly mortgage payment. No thanks.

Greenlight Financial was the last lender I had communications with and at the time they had the best deal, it was simply bad timing. I decided to put things on hold until two things happened, lower interest rates and appreciated home value. That’s exactly what happened in August 2012.

.:Greenlight means Go!:.

One morning in August I was listening to Rush Limbaugh’s morning show on the radio. As soon as I heard the “No out of pocket cost to you” and a 3.5% interest rate, I was sold. When I got home I went on Greenlight’s website, entered all my preliminary data and contact information. I wasn’t expecting a call 3 minutes later but next thing I knew I was talking to a Greenlight associate that already had our info from our previous discussions. No money up front, no risk, no “out of pocket fees” until you commit. I already knew my credit and FICO score was great so all I had to do was give the magic word “go-ahead”.

For the next 2 weeks it was all email communications, online signiture sessions, downloading documents and resending them, then when everything was in order a call from the appraiser. This was a big hurdle for us but turns out our home appraisal came in higher than the original purchase price. The new roof we installed and a 5,000 watt grid-tied solar panel system added a big boost. During the third week there were only a few documents that had problems, one my wife didn’t sign and I had to explain a few old address that were connected to my name, no big deal. There was a one week gap of nothing then by the end of the fourth week we got a call from the notary. It would be a Saturday signing and about three business days to close. The loan was funded by Friday and GMAC was paid in full.

.:Closing:.

One of my only concerns after closing was how long it took for GMAC to acknowledge the payoff from Greenlight and when the “overage” payment would be sent. It was just shy of 30 days before it arrived. The amount was exactly what I expected and after doing the math I concluded it was almost a “no cost loan” as we did wind up paying the appraisal fee plus a few minor monetary transfer fees. By far this was the easiest and least expensive refinance I’ve ever done.

.:The notary glitch:.

Our meeting with the notary was the same experience as with our previous notary signings except one problem, my wife’s driver’s license had expired. The most important and frequently used forms of ID in such transactions, we could not proceed without 2 forms of ID and an alternate proof of our identification was needed ASAP.

Long story short, we immediately needed 2 people that knew who we were, not related to us to show up on site, prove their relation with related” and state under oath “We are who were and not related etc..” and so on. An hour and a half later all docs were signed. All I can say is complete professionalism on the notaries behalf and no complaint with me, just a minor inconvenience.

.:Note:.

It turns out the company that "now" services my loan, meaning to whom the checks are made out to or mailed to are not to Greenlight. This is the norm. My payments are in fact serviced by another entity, not what I expected, especially with their sub-par rating of customer satisfaction. So far I'm OK with the one phone call I made. The reply was less than 30 minutes and he answered my question.

Recommended: Yes