Should you refinance your mortgage?

Yahoo Finance is answering your most-searched finance questions of the year. The fourth most-searched questions was: "Should I refinance my mortgage?"

There are a few solid reasons to refinance your mortage. If interest rates are lower than they were when you first financed, you may want to move fast to lock in that lower rate.

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A lot of people also refinance their loan by cashing in on equity in their house in order to pay down debts -- basically like a debt consolidation loan.

Another reason to refinance is if you’re looking to change the terms of your loan. For example, you might want to switch from a 30-year loan to a 15-year loan or from an adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage.

But before you pull the trigger, don’t forget that a new mortgage also means new closing costs. Sit down with a financial planner to figure out how many months of lower mortgage payments it will take to recoup those costs before you refinance.

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