Affinity Plus FCU has rolled out the "Accelerate Mortgage," which offers low fixed rates based on the 10-year bond, terms from five to 12 years, and a flat fee of $999 to process and close the loan.
Fixed rates for terms from five to nine years are .25% over the current 10-year bond rate; loans for terms from 10 to 12 years are .50% over the current 10-year bond rate.
In the past few weeks, Accelerate Mortgages have ranged from 4.25% to 4.80%, the credit union said.
"We identified that there was a significant percentage of homeowners who had not refinanced in this low-rate environment because they either had shorter terms left on their mortgages or they didn't want to incur the cost to process the loan," said Brian Volkmann, senior manager of real estate for Affinity Plus. "We initially launched Accelerate in April by word-of-mouth to members, and the results have been phenomenal."
Volkmann said that since launch the credit union has closed 321 loans totaling close to $34 million, which increased these members' total loan balances by 324%.
Of those 321 members, the average number of accounts per household has increased from 8.66 to 10.26.
"These statistics support our analysis that there is a definite need for a product like Accelerate, and our decision today to offer it to the public," he said. "It also emphasizes that we are able to deepen our relationships with our members by doing what's right for them."
