Rate drop not good for all

Mortgage rates have slipped below 6 percent, but not all homeowners will benefit.

• New risk-based pricing guidelines are making mortgages costlier for people with spotty credit and little equity in their home.

• Rates for jumbo mortgages are sharply higher than those for conventional mortgages.

• Congress may raise the limit on conforming mortgages to $600,000 or more, providing cheaper refinancing to more borrowers.

• Refinancing generally makes sense only if the money you save from the lower monthly payments offsets the cost of the new mortgage within a few years.