Because of the current low interest rates I want to refinance my house now but I'm expecting to come into a lump sum payment in the next couple of years. I want to pay down the loan at that time and then recast my mortgage payments, and I have asked lenders if they will do that and they say “sure” but they will not put it in the commitment letter. Is this kind of loan available?

Generally, the kinds of loans that you will see being offered are fixed-rate loans which have a fixed rate of interest over the life of the loan, usually 15 or 30 years, and if you make a prepayment it will reduce the number of payments you make, and substantially reduce the interest payments you pay over the loan term, but the principal and interest payments will remain the same. If you get an adjustable-rate loan, with principal and interest payments adjusting every 1, 3 or 5 years, or some variation thereon, generally what happens is that the principal and interest payments will be reset based on the new interest-rate, the lowered principal balance and over the original term of the loan so that the monthly payments will adjust to a lower amount. The kind of loan that you are suggesting is generally not available. On the other hand most lenders are amenable to taking a prepayment and adjusting the monthly payment as a result of lower principal balance. However that willingness may be tempered by the current interest rates being offered. For instance, if you had a 5% loan and at the time loans were being offered at 6% the lender may be very willing to accept the prepayment because he can then loan out the amount you prepay at 6% as opposed to 5%. However the converse is also true, that is if your rate is 5% and the lender is making loans at 4% then he will lose a basis point as a result of your prepayment. You generally can always prepay a fixed-rate loan but you cannot get a lower monthly principal and interest payment unless the lender agrees to it which may be dependent upon where interest rates are at the time you want to make a prepayment. Moreover, as we all know, your mortgage loan could well be transferred two or three times before you make the prepayment so whatever the current lender tells you will probably not be binding on the subsequent lender unless it is in writing and is part of the loan document which is very unlikely unless it is a local bank which holds its mortgage loans and does not sell them on the secondary market.