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Mortgage shoppers have been getting pretty consistent advice for the past couple of years: Forget adjustable-rate mortgages and get a fixed-rate deal, probably for 30 years rather than 15.

Are there no exceptions?

Well, there are always some exceptions. These days, a few borrowers in just the right circumstances might be wise to look at the five-year ARM. These loans charge a relatively attractive rate for five years, and then require the borrower to gamble that rates won’t soar afterward, when adjustments are typically made every 12 months.

In the latest BankingMyWay.com survey, the average five-year ARM charged 4.783 percent, down a bit from a week earlier. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was also down a bit, averaging 5.296 percent.

Because rates on fixed-rate mortgages never change, the borrower doesn’t have to worry that payments will go up.

And at just under 5.3 percent, fixed-rate loans are a terrific deal. They rarely go much lower.

But the fact is you could save money during the first five years if you had a five-year ARM.

The Mortgage Loan Calculator shows just how much. For every $100,000 borrowed, monthly payments would be $555 on the fixed-rate loan $524 on the ARM.

It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but does total $1,860 over five years. On a $300,000 loan that would be $5,580.

If you knew you’d sell the house in five years, the ARM would be the obvious choice. Why leave money on the table? (Of course, if you expect to move within five year, you might think twice about buying a home. Values could continue falling for a while, and even if they start climbing there’s no guarantee homes will appreciate enough to offset the sales commissions and other selling costs.)

The ARM would also make sense if you expected a windfall, like an inheritance, that would allow you to pay the mortgage off within five years.

And the ARM might be an acceptable gamble if you figured your income would climb substantially over that period, so that you wouldn’t be overburdened if a rate reset drove your payments up.

Anyone not in one of these special circumstances should probably think twice about an ARM. Keep in mind, though, that the break even point, when the ARM could start costing more than the fixed loan, could actually be longer than five years.

ARMS typically place a cap on the annual rate increases, usually 2 percentage points on five-year ARMs. (There’s also usually a 6-point lifetime cap, preventing the rate from ever rising more than 6 percentage points above its starting level.)

In the worst case, the five-year ARM you get today could jump from 4.783 percent to 6.783 percent five years from now. At that point, you’d still owe $91,542 for every $100,000 borrowed. Your new payment would be $641, compared to $524 for the first five years. Assuming no further rate hike, this extra payment would take about 16 months to wipe out all the savings you’d enjoyed over the first five years by getting the ARM instead of the fixed-rate loan.

In other words, the ARM does not become more expensive until after you’ve completed six years. This breakeven period would be even longer if the first rate hike was less than two percentage points.

Of course, the ARM rate could go down in five years rather than up. Use the Adjustable Rate Mortgage Calculator to see how changing rates could affect your payments. Also, read this story for an explanation of indexes and margins used in rate resets.

Finally, use the shopping tool to track down better-than average deals. Ing Direct (Stock Quote: ING), for instance, has a five-year ARM with zero points, starting at 4.5 percent. Wells Fargo (Stock Quote: WFC) has one at 4.125 percent.

— For more ways to save, spend, invest and borrow, visit MainStreet.com.