american interbanc mortgage llc

We had a great 4.5% 15 yr loan with 8 yrs left. P&I was $2100. Because the economy is soft we wanted the flexibility of having a lower payment if it became necessary. Did quite a bit of internet research and cross-checking and found American Interbanc out of Irvine, CA. They post their rates each morning for all their products. Originally, we were just hoping to find a similar interest rate but just extend the terms thereby lowering the payment but we were able to actually lower our rate to 3.5% with a half pt. credit back on a 7/1 Interest only 30 yr ARM! Our plan is to continue to pay off as before but if need be we're only obligated to pay $490 / month rather than $2100. This was strictly an internet transaction. We never had one spoken conversation with the people at AIB. All documents were emailed to us. We printed, signed, scanned and emailed back. Our loan processor, Michael Yu, would respond to questions, etc, within a few hours if not within a few minutes usually. He was very good in addressing any questions we had. AIB charged no upfront costs. Their standard origination fee is $999 but it varies depending on the loan. You pay for your appraisal directly with the firm handling it. We had a 30 day lock which I was concerned about. My friend is a mortgage broker in New Mex and he said they'd never close in time. They did. Be aware, AIB only deals with people with good credit. And they will sell the note to someone else. I insisted on removing impounds so now I pay my own property taxes, insurance, etc. This cost me 1/4 pt. but is worth it for the piece of mind. Final loan docs were signed on a Saturday by an escrow officer that came to our house. If you've been through a re-fi before this is about as easy as it comes. If you're a rookie and need a lot of hand holding in the form of a person to speak to an internet transaction may not be as good for you. We would recommend American Interbanc.