Q: We presently have a 20-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.5 percent interest, with about 14 years left to go. We owe approximately $163,000. Our home appraised for $200,000.

We would like to refinance to a 10-year fixed-rate loan at a better rate. Can you please recommend some loan companies that will provide us with quotes on a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage? We would like to have our home paid off by the time we retire.

A: We don't recommend lenders, real estate agents or brokers, or any other providers of real estate services. However, here is what we can suggest: You should talk to several different types of lenders, including one of the big national lenders, a regional bank, a local mortgage broker, an online lender and a credit union (if you belong to one or can join one).

Only by making the effort to speak with different types of lenders will you understand how their loan products, costs and fees compare — and figure out which will give you the best deal.

We're glad that you've decided to pay down your home loan before retirement. However, before you take that step, you should consider a few implications.

First, your payment amount will rise. Even though a refinance will reduce your interest rate from around 5.5 percent to around 3 percent or less on a 10-year fixed rate mortgage, you will have to increase your monthly payments to retire the new loan in 10 years.

The change in your interest rate should decrease your monthly interest payment by about $300. That's a nice amount of savings, even though your monthly mortgage payment would go up by about $200.

Nevertheless, you need to make sure that the increase in your monthly payments won't cause undue stress along the way. If it will or might, you could consider a 15-year fixed-rate loan or another 20-year mortgage, even though the interest rate will be slightly higher than the 10-year loan.

You will save slightly less on monthly interest expense, yet you will have a lower monthly payment. And you can always choose to make larger payments, perhaps the same amount you would have paid on a 10-year loan. When times are good, make the higher payments; when finances are tight, pay the amount set for your loan.

You can still achieve the goal of paying off your loan in 10 years or so. It may take you a year longer, but you will have some financial flexibility, which is crucial as you near retirement.

Don't forget about the cost to refinance. In some parts of the country, refinancing can be much more expensive than in others. If your costs to refinance are about $1,500 and you're saving about $300 per month, you'll recover your costs in about five months.

That recovery time is great. In fact, whenever you can “earn” back the cost of a refinance within a year, it's a home run. However, if you have to pay certain taxes to refinance and it boosts your overall refinance costs to $4,000, you have to weigh those costs against the benefits of a new loan.

Make sure also that you don't plan to move in the next couple of years. Homeowners often refinance without considering that possibility.

Lastly, you might want to talk to a retirement specialist to make sure you are directing your resources to the right places. If you are using money that you might otherwise put into your retirement accounts to pay down your mortgage debt, the smarter move might be to fund your retirement accounts instead. Adding another $10,000 to your Roth IRA accounts each year might be a better long-term move.

That is a personal decision you will have to make, but you should talk to a retirement specialist or financial adviser to walk you through the numbers.

If you have questions, you can call Ilyce Glink's radio show toll-free 800-972-8255 any Sunday, from 10 a.m.-noon, or contact her or Samuel Tamkin through her website, www.thinkglink.com.