Kudos to Union Bank of California
Of the three mortgages I've had in my life, all have been through Union Bank, and all through the same agent. When I refinanced into my current 5/1 ARM six years ago, there were two features of the mortgage that I didn't really appreciate until recently. One is that UB doesn't resell or repackage their mortgages, meaning I'd always interact with the same agent and office, with the same account number. Convenient, to be sure, and I've heard recent horror stories that occur when it's not clear who owns which pieces of your mortgage.
Much more important is the second feature, which is that once the adjustment period starts, and for four years thereafter, I have the right to convert to a fixed rate, for no fees, with the rate based on a formula tied to the Fannie Mae 60-Day Yield. Normally this has been higher than my current rate, but lately they've been dropping like crazy and at the end of December I requested the conversion. By March, I should be dropping down from 5.75% to 4.5%, saving over $200 a month on my mortgage.
Much more important is the second feature, which is that once the adjustment period starts, and for four years thereafter, I have the right to convert to a fixed rate, for no fees, with the rate based on a formula tied to the Fannie Mae 60-Day Yield. Normally this has been higher than my current rate, but lately they've been dropping like crazy and at the end of December I requested the conversion. By March, I should be dropping down from 5.75% to 4.5%, saving over $200 a month on my mortgage.