I've refinanced mortgages 3 times.  I've bailed from mortgage refinancing another 3 times.  Its not always easy to identify when you are getting a good refinancing deal.

I attempted to refinance through Quicken Loans.  I had used Intuit products for years and I thought I'd take the relationship to the next level by letting Intuit by my house for me.  I paid a $350 deposit to them and we kicked off the process.

They had locked me into a rate of 3.5% at the time, fixed no less.  We went through the process and they called me about 20 days in to tell me that they would have to change a few things in the loan.  Long story short, they couldn't loan me the money the way they had assured me that they could (after running my credit, sending the loan paperwork which I had executed and sent bakc, and several other steps that should have sealed the deal).  No they could only complete the loan with the structure that I'd requested and they had approved if they raised the interest rate  by 2%.

All of a sudden 3.5% turned into 5.5% and that was not attractive at all(back then).  So I used their change in rates, to bail out of the mortgage and I refinanced with my original mortgage company, Wells Fargo.  I got my $350 back after disputing the charge and providing the written evidence to my credit card company.  The refund took about 90 days, no thanks to the credit card company, but I did get it back.

Bottom Line

There are many things that borrowers have to investigate when it comes time for mortgage refinancing.  Mine is only one story, there are many like it and many other pitfalls to avoid.  One resource with lots of advice and forums on this topic is www.personalhomeloanmortgages.com.  You can never research enough, and the lesson I learned is that the deal is not done until you sign the closing paperwork.  Even if I had lost my deposit, I would have saved a great deal of money by backing out of the Quicken Loans fiasco!