If you’re in the market to refinance your mortgage you’ll find several national banks and mortgage companies bragging about their “no cost” mortgage loans. Are these loans truly “no cost” or are there really no free lunches when it comes to mortgage loans? Here are several tips to help you avoid overpaying when refinancing your home loan.

What does “no cost” mortgage refinancing really mean? Banks and mortgage companies never waive their fees; they simply offset them by marking up the interest rate. This is true of flat fee mortgages and the supposed no-fee refinancing offers you see on television. Advertisements promising a flat $395 fee or zero cost loans are never telling the whole truth about the loans. These offers are simply gimmicks used to trick homeowners into accepting loans with hyper-inflated interest rates.

Most mortgage companies and brokers slip .5% - .75% markup of your mortgage rate for their commission; however, these “no cost” loans typically and another .5% to this unnecessary markup known as Yield Spread Premium. This hyper-inflated mortgage rate means that you’ll pay more every month you keep the loan than if you had simply paid your closing costs. Depending on the amount of your loan this could add up to thousands of dollars every month!

This deceptive marketing is practiced by nearly every bank, Mortgage Company, and mortgage broker in the United States. When it comes to refinancing your mortgage there are truly no free lunches when it comes to flat-fee and no cost mortgage loans. You can learn more about your mortgage refinancing options including costly pitfalls to avoid with a free mortgage toolkit.