The answer to your question really depends upon what interest rate you could get on a refinancing.

The "problem" is that your mortgage balances are relatively low & although the interest rates are high, since the balances are low, the benefit is minimized. For example on your main loan, if you could reduce the interest rate by 2%, the most you could save in your monthly payment is about $80. a month; any more would have to come from extending the loan's term.

In the case of the second mortgage; if that were combined with the first at the lower interest rate, the savings would amount to approximately $45. per month, initially

Of course that is based upon your current outstanding balances, so the benefit would decrease over time.

Unfortunately, most banks won't want to get involved in refinancing a mortgage with a remaining 5 year term.

One option that you could consider is to combine your mortgages as your husband suggests and have the note re-written for a 15 year term at the lower interest rate. That will drastically reduce your monthly payment by several hundred dollars a month. (It is hard to know exactly from the information you provided as I don't know what is included in your monthly payment - real estate taxes, insurance?); Then, to deal with your concern about extending the term of your mortgage beyond the current maturity date, make an agreement with your husband that 1/2 of the reduction in your mortgage payments will go back into extra principal payments on the mortgage which will drastically reduce the length of the new note; on a 15 year loan, you'll probably have it paid off in 8 or 9 years if you stick with this plan.

You must agree to do this without fail, or the benefits that I describe will not be achieved.

So, in the long run, you'll still drastically reduce your monthly payment; you'll be putting 1/2 of the savings back into your home, in effect earning 3 or 4 percent on your money (by substantially reducing your mortgage principal every month - just like investing in a long-term Certificate of Deposit at the bank) & you'll be saving mortgage interest from the reduced rate on the loan; you'll also be making some additional cash flow available to divert to other things; perhaps a boat, car or a vacation or whatever else is on your minds;

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