One of his clients who lent her grandchild money for a home down payment created a written agreement that included the loan amount, interest rate and monthly payment.

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According to Oregon State University Extension, creditors may be willing to negotiate by giving you a lower monthly payment, a lower interest rate or even deferring your payment for an amount of time.

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Write down the name, account number, interest rate, minimum monthly payment and balance due.

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Is the amount you save every month by refinancing to a lower rate and a lower monthly payment significant to you?

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Using their KnowEquity When calculator, you can plug in your initial loan amount, the term and interest rate, first payment date, home value, and expected rate of price appreciation, and extra monthly payments to predict when your equity will finally equal your loan balance.

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Then you have to figure out your monthly payment, whether you can consolidate them for a lower rate and how you are going to pay for them.

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In addition, borrowers would have to receive an estimate of when a mortgage will reset at a higher interest rate and an estimate of the resulting monthly payment.

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Separately, by refinancing to a significantly lower interest rate, some borrowers can end up with a lower monthly payment than they were previously paying despite ending up with a bigger loan.

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