Is there any advantage to getting a 15 year fixed mortgage?

Question by Spiderspider: Is there any advantage to getting a 15 year fixed mortgage?
If I sent in a little more money to my current 30 year mortgage so that it was paid off on the same timetable as the 15 year, am I better off rather than spending money on closing costs? Or does the 15 year mortgage give you a lower interest rate and therefore make it worth the cost and hassle of refinancing?

Best answer:

Answer by glenn
Often a 15 year mortgage has a slightly lower interest rate than a 30 year- but not always. If I am buying a house today I would get a thirty year loan and make the payments as if it was a 15 year loan so that I have a fall-back option if anything gets rough. If you feel very comfortable with the 15 year payments and might even make extra payments to pay it off in ten years then I might take a 15 year loan.

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