11.   It is also worthwhile in many cases, Winter said, to start negotiating for a refinancing with the holder of the existing mortgage.

12.   Low long-term rates encourage borrowers to refinance and prepay existing mortgages, forcing lenders to reinvest the proceeds at lower rates.

13.   Low long-term rates prompt borrowers to prepay existing mortgages and refinance.

14.   More important, they say, are possible defaults by people with existing mortgages.

15.   Or you could pay off your existing mortgage several years early.

16.   Others have surprised borrowers by cutting rates on existing mortgages made without any such promises.

17.   That will likely tempt many people to buy their first homes or to refinance their existing mortgages.

18.   The rest will help to buy out the existing mortgage.

19.   The San Francisco-based bank, the eighth largest home lender in California, will continue to service existing mortgages and make home equity loans.

20.   Those cuts indirectly affected long-term rates, making home-loan refinancings more attractive and potentially reducing the stream of income that servicing companies earn from existing mortgages.