Current 15-Year Refinance Trends
Updated April 19, 2024
- 15-Year Fixed Rate %; APR of %.
If you’re a homeowner, refinancing to a 15-year loan could help you to build equity much faster and decrease the time it takes to pay off your loan. While your monthly payments may go up, your overall interest savings should also increase.
“A little pain now for a lot of gain later” could be an effective slogan for shorter-term mortgages. Those people looking to cash in on long-term savings should be on the lookout for the best 15-year refinance rates and lenders who will work best for them.
8 best 15-year refinance rates of 2020
- Chase: Best for low APR
- Wells Fargo: Best for personal service
- Better.com: Best for fast preapproval
- Loan Depot: Best for no appraisal costs
- Rocket Mortgage: Best for customer satisfaction
- SunTrust: Best for monthly savings
- Bank of America: Best for fast prequalification
- Navy Federal: Best for high LTV
Chase — Best for low APR
With 15-year refinance rates starting at 2.907% APR, Chase is an attractive option for mortgage loan refinancing. These rates are on par with the current industry averages. Applications and inquiries into personal rate options are available online, via phone, or at one of the nearly 5,000 branch locations in the U.S.
Wells Fargo — Best for personal service
Wells Fargo has over 7,400 branch locations servicing 37 states in the U.S. for mortgage refinancing needs. Current rates on a 15-year refinance are 3.399% for standard loans and 3.588% for jumbo loans. This puts Wells Fargo slightly higher than Chase Bank, but the rates are still competitive. Applicants and borrowers are offered transparency with the ability to track the entire loan process online through the company’s YourLoan Tracker technology.
Better.com — Best for fast preapproval
Borrowers looking for the most up-to-the-minute rates without needing to reach out to a loan specialist will like the technology on Better.com. The company offers its best rates minute by minute. You will have to qualify for these best rates based on your credit score, borrowing history and loan details.
With 15-year refinance rates hovering near a low 3%, you’ll be getting a competitive rate.
Loan Depot — Best for no appraisal costs
A costly expense of the refinancing process is the appraisal of your home or property. Loan Depot covers this cost on all approved 15-year refinances. While the company does not post public rates, you may still want to reach out to see what Loan Depot can do for you. The company has funded over $165 billion in loans since its inception. Experience in the industry will not lack with Loan Depot.
Rocket Mortgage — Best for customer satisfaction
A subsidiary of Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage offers 15-year refinance loans to customers in all 50 states. Consumers looking for an online experience will enjoy the streamlined process put forward by Rocket Mortgage.
What stands out about Rocket Mortgage is the level of customer satisfaction. Quicken loans is the higher-ranked mortgage servicer on J.D. power for six years running, with 96% client recommendation and 4.9/5.0 stars on the App Store (as of December 2019).
SunTrust — Best for monthly savings
Customers in the 11 states serviced by SunTrust Bank may look to SunTrust Mortgage as an option for their 15-year refinance. According to SunTrust, it has saved customers an average of $314 every month on mortgage payments.
While you may see smaller or no monthly savings with a shorter 15-year loan, you will still see immense long-term interest savings.
Bank of America — Best for fast prequalification
What’s nice about Bank of America is pretty forthcoming with the best available rates it can offer on 15-year fixed refinance loans. You can put in your home value, current loan balance and your zip code on the company’s website to see the current best available rates for your area.
Current APRs on 15-year refinances with the bank hover slightly above 3% APR, which does make them somewhat higher than the other options. Preferred Rewards clients may be able to get additional benefits like lower origination fees, though. This could make the bank a viable option for those homeowners who already have accounts at Bank of America.
Navy Federal — Best for high LTV
Many lenders have limits on the loan to value ratios they are willing to work with. Navy Federal, on the other hand, is willing to refinance loans all the way up to 95% LTV. This means that borrowers who are still fairly early in the repayment cycle can take advantage of refinancing.
Applications can be filed online or through one of the branch locations. Currently, Navy Federal services 30 states and only works with service members and their families.
Compare 8 best 15-year refinance rates of 2020
| Provider | States Serviced | Branch Locations | Key Benefit |
| Chase | 30 | 4,900 | 15-year APR starting at 2.907% |
| Wells Fargo | 37 | 7,400 | YourLoan Tracker technology for tracking |
| Better.com | 44 | No | 15-yea APR starting at 3.025% |
| Loan Depot | 50 | 150 | Loan Depot lifetime guarantee |
| Rocket Mortgage | 50 | No | High customer satisfaction ratings |
| SunTrust | 11 | 1,147 | $314 average monthly savings |
| Bank of America | 50 | 4,300 | 15-year APR starting at 3.382% |
| Navy Federal | 30 | 247 | LTV ratios up to 95% |
What is a 15-year refinance?
A 15-year refinance is an option to replace your existing home loan with a new loan. The new loan pays off the old loan completely, and sets you up with new loan terms, interest rates and payment schedule. A 15-year refinance is a fixed-rate refinance that is repaid over the course of 15 years.
If you’re refinancing from a loan shorter than 15 years — let’s say you took out a 10-year loan — you may use this option when lower payments are the priority. If you are refinancing from a longer term loan, this might be a choice to more aggressively pay down your mortgage and save on interest.
15-year refinance vs. 30-year refinance
The advantages of a 15-year refinance are overall interest savings on the life of the loan. Yes, your monthly mortgage payments will most likely be larger than they would with a 30-year refinance, but the long-term savings may be worth it. These savings are assuming you are refinancing to 15 years from a 30- or 20-year loan and not a shorter term of 10 years.
15-year refinance vs. 10-year refinance
For those people looking to take the most aggressive approach to pay off their mortgage, a 10-year refinance option would be the best fit. Payments will be higher than with a 15-year mortgage, but interest savings will go up, and the time to pay off your loan goes down by a third. If you can make the monthly payments, your entire house will be paid off five years sooner than it would have been.
15-year refinance vs. adjustable-rate refinancing
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) may be a good choice for homeowners set on moving or selling their home within a certain period of time. APR rates on ARMs are generally lower than 15-year fixed refinancing rates during the first few years of the loan, but that can only be guaranteed for the fixed-rate periods. ARMs offer a lower “teaser” rate for a set number of years but later transition into a loan with interest rates that fluctuate with the current market rate.
If you’re planning on staying in your home for a while or are not sure what your plan is, a 15-year refinance may be more ideal than an ARM because you’ll know what your payments will be for the life of the loan. ARMs can be risky after the fixed-rate period because it may be hard to predict what the market is going to do.