Just looking back at mortgage interest rates from January 2022 and honestly it's wild how much things have shifted since then. Back then, a 30-year fixed refinance was sitting around 3.56% - people were actually locking those in thinking they were getting deals. The 15-year was even lower at 2.88%. For comparison, if you had a $100k loan at 3.56%, you'd be looking at like $452 a month in principal and interest.

What's interesting is how the rates varied by loan type. The 20-year fixed was 3.45%, and if you went with an adjustable rate (5/1 ARM), you could get 2.80%. Jumbo mortgages were slightly higher - 30-year jumbos were at 3.57%. The APR was always a bit higher than the stated rate since it included all those finance charges.

Refinancing made sense back then if you were planning to stay in your place for a while, since there were closing costs to factor in. A lot of people used it to either lower monthly payments, pay off loans faster, or tap into home equity. The key was calculating your break-even point - basically dividing your closing costs by your monthly savings to see when you'd actually come out ahead.

If you were shopping around for the best rates, the usual moves applied: keep your credit score solid, consider shorter-term loans for lower rates, and watch the market since rates fluctuated pretty regularly. Lenders were more likely to approve you if your debt-to-income ratio wasn't too high either. Interesting to see how mortgage interest rates have evolved since january 2022.