NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Just over one-third of mortgage borrowers (35%) aren't completely sure of the interest rate they are paying, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. That includes an alarming one in seven mortgage holders who are "not too confident," "not at all confident" or simply have no idea.

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"Your mortgage rate is one of the most important numbers in your financial life, and there's a good chance that one of your neighbors has no idea regarding how much he or she is paying," said Holden Lewis, a senior mortgage analyst at Bankrate.com. "Given how far mortgage rates have fallen, these people could be missing substantial opportunities to save money by refinancing."

Mortgage rates are well below historical norms. The average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage is now 3.80%. It was well above six percent as recently as 2008, and in 2000, it was close to eight percent.

Refinancing a $200,000 loan from 6% to 3.80% would save $267 per month; refinancing from 8% to 3.80% would save $536 per month.

Analysts expect mortgage rates to rise in the coming months. If rates hit 5%, one in five Americans say renting a home would become a better investment than buying.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/consumer-index/money-pulse-0215.aspx

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (500) and cell phone (500, including 290 without a landline phone) in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from January 8-11, 2015. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

About Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, Insweb.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 100 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

For More Information:

Kayleen Yates
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
kyates@bankrate.com
917-368-8677

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SOURCE Bankrate.com