Like your mortgage payment statements, you should keep any paperwork on your refinance for at least 3 years. Although, some professionals might recommend keeping it for at least 10 years.
Let's take a closer look to get a better understanding. Keep the Most Important Papers: Any paperwork that is specifically for your home purchase or original loan should be considered important papers and saved for the life of the loan. Loan paperwork, such as refinancing agreements, should also be kept.
When you refinance, you replace one mortgage with another. Funds from the new mortgage will be used to repay the old loan. Refinancing also means that loan servicing may be transferred from one servicer to another. This is the time when you need to work carefully with your new lender and your old lender.
Keep the Most Important Papers
Actual contract papers detailing your home purchase and original loan should be kept for the life of the loan. Other loan paperwork, such as refinancing agreements, should be kept for at least three years; some recommend keeping these as long as ten years.
The best practice is to keep the policies forever. If you are confident that you will not have any claims brought against you for latent matters, a good rule of thumb is to keep the policies for six years. Nearly all potential claims will have expired within this timeframe.
Homeowners should keep these statements for at least three years. Although the information on these statements is a part of public record, it is always more convenient to keep a carefully filed paper copy so you can find the information at a moment's notice.
The Previous Escrow Account.
When you refinance a loan, the original escrow account remains with the old loan. Escrow funds, unfortunately, cannot be transferred to new loans, even if it's with the same lender.
It's a simple way that lenders make more money on refis and sell more loans, he says, by extending the loan and having the consumer focus on the lower monthly payment. That focus can get people to pay more for cars, wedding rings and homes, he says.
Utility Bills: Hold on to them for a maximum of one year. Tax Returns and Tax Receipts: Just like tax-related credit card statements, keep these on file for at least three years. House and Car Insurance Policies: Shred the old ones when you receive new policies.
Greene-Lewis says that any records related to retirement accounts should be held for seven years after you withdraw the money. “If you claim a bad debt deduction or have a loss on a worthless security,” Greene-Lewis adds, “then, you should also hold onto the records for seven years after the date you filed.”
In general, you should keep pay stubs for up to a year, then it's considered safe to throw them away. Make sure you properly shred them so no one can get ahold of your old pay stubs and glean personal information you don't want public.
Your lender will send you a Closing Disclosure. By law, you must receive your Closing Disclosure at least three business days before your closing. You can call your lender prior to closing on your mortgage and request copies of the other documents you will be signing.
How to Skip Two Mortgage Payments. In order to skip two mortgage payments, you'd need to close your refinance sometime prior to the 15th of the month, before the payment on the old mortgage is due (using the grace period to delay and avoid payment).
It's usually better to make extra payments when:
If you can't lower your existing mortgage rate, a refinance likely won't make sense. In this case, paying extra on your mortgage is a better way to lower your interest costs and pay off the loan faster. You want to own your home faster.
Will refinancing make my property taxes go up? No, refinancing will not have a direct impact on your property taxes — even if you get a new, higher appraisal when you refinance. That's because your property taxes are assessed by your local tax authority based on its own valuation of your home's value.
What Is A Refinance Escrow Refund? When you refinance your mortgage, you may be able to tap into a lower monthly payment. That decision could result in an escrow refund. If you are refinancing your mortgage with your current lender, then your escrow account may remain intact.
What Should I Do? Sorry, but this is the only right answer: You should immediately deposit your insurance refund check into your escrow account. Your mortgage servicer uses your escrow account to hold money in reserve for your homeowners insurance and property taxes.
The new escrow in your refinanced mortgage is going to be a part of mortgage costs either way, so if you don't have the cash at hand to cover it at that moment, netting your escrow is extremely helpful.
To be on the safe side, McBride says to keep all tax records for at least seven years. Keep forever. Records such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, Social Security cards, and military discharge papers should be kept indefinitely.
KEEP 3 TO 7 YEARS
Knowing that, a good rule of thumb is to save any document that verifies information on your tax return—including Forms W-2 and 1099, bank and brokerage statements, tuition payments and charitable donation receipts—for three to seven years.
Usually 60 days. However, it depends on the statement date cutoff. So if you need to show 1 additional day, and that day is on a previous bank statement, you have to show that entire statement. So it could be up to 90 days.