During the housing boom, my wife and I probably got at least a dozen solicitations a month from banks wanting us to refinance our mortgage or borrow against the equity in our house. Fees were being waved left and right as financial institutions looked to find ways to get borrowers deep in debt. But now that the real estate market is in the tank, banks are singing a different tune.

As the scads of people trying to refinance know, banks are not giving anything away any longer. Those mortgage interest rates of under 5% often come with a catch called points, which are pre-paid fees. In other words, whatever savings you get off your monthly payment will be negated. The fees are tax deductible and may be worth it if they can be paid off relatively quickly.

"So, if you're going to stay in your house for a long time and can afford to do so, paying more points in the beginning may get you a better interest rate and save you more money in the long run," according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

For us, the issue is not clear cut. Though we have no plans to move, we are not sure how long we will stay in our house. The interest rate we have on our existing mortgage also is pretty good, 5.625%. Several banks told us that their rates were not much better. That surprised me but I guess given the current economic climate, they are being cautious.

Best we can tell, refinancing could save us about $150-$200, depending on whether we take the points or not. I am not convinced it is worth the bother.

With the Fed holding rates for the foreseeable future, you may think this is a great time to refinance your mortgage or buy a new home. But because of the "credit crunch" you are no doubt sick of hearing about, rates are actually higher than they were this time last year.

Holden Lewis, who covers interest rates and the Fed for Bankrate.com, has just published an article talking about why rates have risen instead of falling. In a nutshell, it's because the banks aren't interested in lending to you unless you are willing to take on the higher risk in today's housing market compared to a year ago.

What can you do about it? Credit unions may be your best bet to find a reasonable rate, as they are less dependent on the secondary market which is having so many problems. But because they don't advertise as much, you may never hear about it.

Mortgage expert David Reed invites Walletpop readers to ask him questions about real estate financing. Leave your questions in the comment section of this post.

Q: I'm either looking at a good opportunity or a potential rip-off, and I'm not sure which it is. Perhaps you could help me sort it out? In January of this year, we attempted to refinance our home to help us pay down some substantial credit card debt. To make a long story short, our house appraised for a lot less than we thought it was worth, so the finance company wouldn't make the deal. And, as it turned out, that was okay, because we've taken a couple of other options, paid our debt down, and are okay, for the moment.

But, suddenly, I'm hearing from another loan officer at the company where we had attempted our refinance. According to the message he left me, he's been reviewing our file and doesn't understand why the previous loan officer didn't offer us some kind of deal that could have been approved. He says he can help us.

I've hit a wall. A realization. The point in my life where I have realized how bad I was with money. It started with my tracking my spending for a week. It was ugly. Then came a big time in my life...refinance. We got one of those variable rate loans...you know the ones...where your interest rate blows up after two years?

Well, we are about 8 months from that point. So I go out and look for refinance options. Get lots of great schpiels, quick talking salesman, but that's about it. I can not get help getting refinanced. "Your scores are too low," they tell me.

It's horrible. I feel like crap now. I even left work just so I could come home to mull around. Our house payment is about to go up. I've seen a lot on the news about sub-prime problems, and I never really understood what it was all about. But now I do. It's about ME!

Am I in danger of losing my house? No. Not even close. But we are living paycheck to paycheck right now and I don't like the fact that I don't know where my mortgage will be in a year.

So now I feel like I'm back at Square One, with nowhere to go, and no idea what to do. I submit my plight to you, readers. What would you do in my position? I'm all ears.