Article: Rates Jump, Refis Drop.(News)

Byline: Kate Berry

NEW YORK-A recent spike in home mortgage rates threatens to quell the current refinancing boom that helped lift lender profits last quarter.

Some lenders said the nearly half-point jump in rates could be temporary and that, even at current levels, many homeowners would come out ahead by refinancing their mortgages.

But if rates rise, volume is likely to drop. And if they hold steady, lenders will at the very least have to do more active marketing to win business rather than sit back and wait for the phones to ring, industry executives said.

"There are still millions of eligible borrowers," said Scott Stern, the ...

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