A survey I conducted on November 8, 1999 shows that the shorter the start rate period, the less you pay for a rate reduction.

I "shopped" for a $200,000 30-year loan with a 30-day lock period among 13 national lenders offering loans in California. For each ARM, I first noted the start rate with zero points, and then asked for the points each lender charged to reduce that rate by 0.5%. Using the prices quoted most often, here are the points charged to reduce the start rate by 0.5%:

One-year ARM: 0.5

3-year ARM: 1.0

5-year ARM: 1.25

7-year ARM: 1.5

15-year FRM: 1.75

30-year FRM: 2.25

But these number don't answer the question, which if any of these deals is best for you? To answer that, you must know how long you plan to keep your mortgage, and you must know the "break-even month", beyond which the savings from the lower rate exceed the costs of the additional points.

Break-even calculators on my web site for FRMs and ARMs answer this question by comparing the cost of the points with the savings from the lower interest rate. [To use the calculators, click on The Break-Even Period For Paying Points on Fixed-Rate Mortgages or The Break-Even Period for Paying Points on Adjustable-Rate Mortgages].

The calculators figure in:

Tax savings: Interest payments made in a given year are deductible in that year. On a purchase transaction, points are deductible in the year of purchase but on a refinancing, points must be deducted over the life of the loan.

Equity growth: The higher the interest rate, the longer it takes to pay down the balance and the slower the equity growth.

Lost interest earnings: You could earn interest on the money you use to pay points and make monthly mortgage payments

The break-even calculators reveal some interesting patterns. With purchase transactions, unless borrowers expect to be out of their house within 4 years, it usually pays to pay points to reduce the rate on 7-year, 5-year and 3-year ARMs. Using the average prices charged by the 13 lenders, and assuming borrowers are in the 28% tax bracket, breakeven periods were only 38 months for a 7-year ARM, 35 months for a 5-year ARM, and 30 months for a 3-year ARM.

Using the same assumptions, the break-even period for a 30-year FRM was 58 months, and for a 15-year FRM it was 49 months.

But one-year ARMs are a different story. In most cases, it does not pay to pay points to reduce the start rate on a one year ARM, no matter how long you intend to hold the mortgage. Using the average price among 13 lenders and the same assumptions as for the longer ARMs, you never break-even. If you need a one-year ARM to qualify, the safest course is to take the lowest rate you need to qualify, but no lower.

On refinance transactions, break-even periods are uniformly longer than on purchase transactions because points must be deducted over the life of the loan. On 7-year ARMs, for example, assuming a 28% tax bracket, the break-even period is 16 months longer on a refinance than on a purchase transaction, while on a 5-year ARM it is 11 months longer.

Break-Even Period For Paying Points to Reduce the Interest Rate by Varying Amounts, by Type of Mortgage