by: Chris Robertson
If you're considering a mortgage loan, you might be wondering what options are available. Today, there are many options besides the conventional methods of obtaining a mortgage. Whether you're applying for a home loan for a new home, a refinance loan, an equity loan, a HELOC, or a reverse loan, you should be aware of what each loan entails.
Buying a New Home
When buying a new home, you'll need to be approved for a new home loan through a lender, or ask the seller to finance the home for you. Before applying at a lending institution, research your options. Determine how much "house" you can afford. Use online mortgage payment calculators to figure what the payments would be for different home loan amounts. Then, you'll know what price range you can shop within, and whether or not you can afford the payments. Remember, your income/debt ratio must fit within the lender's guidelines to qualify for a conventional loan.
Healthy and "Not-so-healthy" Credit Scores
If you have an excellent credit score, then your income/debt ratio along with the investment capital you have available will be the main factors in determining home loan availability. However, if there are flaws in your credit history due to non-payment or repossession, you will be limited in the type of home loan you can obtain. But don't lose heart. Many homebuyers whose credit is "not-so-great" do qualify for non-prime loans. Non-prime loans can be a bit higher-priced than prime loans or have higher interest, but you might still be able to buy your dream home!
Creative Financing
Don't settle for conventional loans if you don't have to. There are many creative ways to finance a new home loan. If you do not have the needed investment capital or a down payment, some lenders will finance the down payment for you as well as the closing costs. If not, the seller might be willing to finance part of the loan to cover these costs. This can work even if the seller doesn't have extra "money to lend!"
Explain to the seller that it could be advantageous to him because of income taxes. He might much rather claim an income of $100,000 than $120,000! Spreading out payments for $20,000 of the loan amount over a period of five or ten years could make a huge difference on his taxes due for that year. Consult with an accountant to find out if this could work in your situation.
Unusual Types of Home Loans
If you're worried about budgeting with a new home loan payment each month, try a FlexPay loan where several monthly payment options are available to you every month. These options include interest only payments, full-amortized payments, and minimum payments. There are also bi-weekly mortgages for paying more toward your premium each year through a bi-weekly payment schedule.
Hard Money loans are also available when there is a large amount of equity built up in a home. The loan approval is based more on the home or property's value than the borrower's credit history or job/salary history.
Refinance Loans
If you plan to refinance your home, there are several options. A refinance means you are re-evaluating the terms, payments and interest of your loan. You might refinance to simply get the interest rate or payment lowered. Or, you might want to keep a little cash out for yourself as well. This is called "Cash-out" refinancing. Cash-out loans are made when you want to refinance your home for more than is owed on it. For instance, you owe $60,000, but want to refinance for $80,000. You'll pocket the additional $20,000 to use for home repairs, remodeling or whatever else!
Reverse loans are available for those over 62 years of age who own their home free and clear or have much equity built into it. They can receive a monthly payment, a lump sum or a line of credit. This does not have to be repaid until the borrower moves or passes away. Then, the estate can be sold to pay the note.
Another option for leveraging your home equity is to create a HELOC (home equity line of credit) that is secured by the equity in your home. HELOCs can be used to pay debts, make purchases, or anything else. Be aware, however, that the interest rate can fluctuate monthly.
Now that you are armed with many options for obtaining a home loan or refinancing your mortgage, check with an online lender to find out what plan will work best for you. Use the available tools and calculators to do some budgeting on your own as well. You'll be moving in that new dream home in no time!
Jumat, 25 Juli 2008
Three Auto Insurance Secrets
by: Steve Gillman
Want to learn something new about auto insurance? Something that can save you a lot of money or get a claim paid? Forget the usual tips. Check out these secrets.
1. Demand the legal policy minimums if you have no assets. Do you really need a lot of liability coverage if you have no money in the bank? Insurance companies will tell you that you do because you can be sued regardless. It's possible. I can't promise you that you won't be sued and end up paying a chunk of your paycheck to someone for life.
However, honest insurance salesmen admit that people without assets are rarely sued. Lawyers work on a commission in these cases, and won't take a case where there is no money to be collected. In fact, having a bigger liability policy can be an invitation to sue, and it won't protect you from personal liability, because they always sue for more than the policy limit anyhow.
If you have no assets to protect, why buy auto insurance? Because it is a legal requirement. In that case why not just buy the minimum coverage required? But be careful. My own insurance guy lied for years, claiming I had just that, when in fact I was paying for "company-recommended minimums." You might have to push the point, and may even have to sign something saying you understand how risky it is to be "under-insured."
2. Claim diminished value. If you have a collision policy, your insurance company will pay for the repairs after an accident. However, is the financial damage really fixed? Not necessarily. A car that has been in an accident and had the body fixed may look the same, but it won't sell for the same price. Would you pay the same for a car that has been in an accident?
A car that has been in an accident might be worth $2,000 less than a similar un-damaged car. This is called "diminished value," and may be covered by your policy. However, diminished value is often not paid unless you push the point. Get a car dealer to do an estimate of the diminished value if necessary, and present this to the insurance company. You pay for insurance to have your losses covered, and they aren't covered if you aren't paid for this.
3. Lower your premiums by removing kids from the policy. You may have already discovered that you pay a lot for insurance as long as you have driving-age children at home. Even if they are off at school, if their legal residence is your house, you pay more.
However, there is a little-known exception to this rule. If your children are at a college that's more than 100 miles away, you can have them taken off the insurance policy. This can dramatically reduce your premiums. The catch? They are excluded drivers, so you can't let them drive the car when they come home to visit.
These are just a few examples of the auto insurance secrets that insurance companies probably don't want you to know.
Want to learn something new about auto insurance? Something that can save you a lot of money or get a claim paid? Forget the usual tips. Check out these secrets.
1. Demand the legal policy minimums if you have no assets. Do you really need a lot of liability coverage if you have no money in the bank? Insurance companies will tell you that you do because you can be sued regardless. It's possible. I can't promise you that you won't be sued and end up paying a chunk of your paycheck to someone for life.
However, honest insurance salesmen admit that people without assets are rarely sued. Lawyers work on a commission in these cases, and won't take a case where there is no money to be collected. In fact, having a bigger liability policy can be an invitation to sue, and it won't protect you from personal liability, because they always sue for more than the policy limit anyhow.
If you have no assets to protect, why buy auto insurance? Because it is a legal requirement. In that case why not just buy the minimum coverage required? But be careful. My own insurance guy lied for years, claiming I had just that, when in fact I was paying for "company-recommended minimums." You might have to push the point, and may even have to sign something saying you understand how risky it is to be "under-insured."
2. Claim diminished value. If you have a collision policy, your insurance company will pay for the repairs after an accident. However, is the financial damage really fixed? Not necessarily. A car that has been in an accident and had the body fixed may look the same, but it won't sell for the same price. Would you pay the same for a car that has been in an accident?
A car that has been in an accident might be worth $2,000 less than a similar un-damaged car. This is called "diminished value," and may be covered by your policy. However, diminished value is often not paid unless you push the point. Get a car dealer to do an estimate of the diminished value if necessary, and present this to the insurance company. You pay for insurance to have your losses covered, and they aren't covered if you aren't paid for this.
3. Lower your premiums by removing kids from the policy. You may have already discovered that you pay a lot for insurance as long as you have driving-age children at home. Even if they are off at school, if their legal residence is your house, you pay more.
However, there is a little-known exception to this rule. If your children are at a college that's more than 100 miles away, you can have them taken off the insurance policy. This can dramatically reduce your premiums. The catch? They are excluded drivers, so you can't let them drive the car when they come home to visit.
These are just a few examples of the auto insurance secrets that insurance companies probably don't want you to know.
Bad Credit Rating High Auto Insurance There Is No Appeal
by: Terry Z. Voster
Believe it or not whether you pay your bills on time can make a hefty difference in your car insurance premiums.
The adage of an experienced home contractor was that “If the yard is neat you will have no trouble being paid. If the yard is messy then you will have trouble being paid for the home repair job.
It seemed in this case that a neat lawn showed an organized person who could asses priorities and follow through with projects. A messy lawn’s inference was that if the person could not take of their lawn - the same in most cases would be true of their finances and their ability to take care of the money – including paying bills – whether it was for the contractor, a mortgage or car payments or even home or income taxes.
Car insurance premiums are assessed in the same way by auto insurance companies. In the majority of states in the United States and in the provinces of Canada a key factor. taken into account. In the algorithm of the calculation of a motorist’s auto insurance premium is the individual’s credit rating and credit history. It is estimated that up to 90 % of vehicle insurance firms use credit ratings as a standard factor in the determination of the premium rates assessed on individual motorists and the other vehicles in the families fleet of vehicles – whether they be car , truck , can or SUV.
Amazingly there are laws to provide the individual with their credit rating, credit rating and history – as long as the individual asks for it, in the steps required by law. And the credit reporting agency.
Forewarned and informed and individual can take corrective action on credit problems – whether they be missed payments or debts. As well an informed consumer is the know to identify and proceed to correct mistakes in their credit history. Not so with a motorist’s auto insurance vehicle risk score. Not only will they not know that they are being dinged for a poor auto insurance risk score, because of a poor credit history so that their premiums will be much higher than they need be, but once a high premium rate is assessed it may stay in place for many years to come – on not one but a number of vehicles.In addition it is as if the insurance industry reporting system has tentacles in the insurance industry. Should you go to for a quote to a competitive auto insurance firm your poor credit rating has been attached already to your auto insurance risk calculations. Most likely you will find that you will have the same high assessed insurance premiums whoever you go to get a quote. There is no appeal process for this.
What is the message? First of all pay your bills on time. Whether you are irresponsible, disorganized or downright dishonest you should appreciate the fact that your credit rating is more than important to you. Sure you may think that there is nothing wrong in missing a payment – for a charge card, a bank loan or a home mortgage. The higher premiums that you may receive for your auto insurance are just one example that it does matter. On top of that bad business procedures and tactics on your part, on a business long ago dissolved may still sit on your credit history as unresolved debts and liens. You may even be named on such a financial document even though you left a company long ago and are not even employed by them. Check your credit rating for credit problems, that can be resolved and also for downright mistakes and inaccuracies on your credit history. It never hurts to be thorough and it never hurts to pay cash.
Believe it or not whether you pay your bills on time can make a hefty difference in your car insurance premiums.
The adage of an experienced home contractor was that “If the yard is neat you will have no trouble being paid. If the yard is messy then you will have trouble being paid for the home repair job.
It seemed in this case that a neat lawn showed an organized person who could asses priorities and follow through with projects. A messy lawn’s inference was that if the person could not take of their lawn - the same in most cases would be true of their finances and their ability to take care of the money – including paying bills – whether it was for the contractor, a mortgage or car payments or even home or income taxes.
Car insurance premiums are assessed in the same way by auto insurance companies. In the majority of states in the United States and in the provinces of Canada a key factor. taken into account. In the algorithm of the calculation of a motorist’s auto insurance premium is the individual’s credit rating and credit history. It is estimated that up to 90 % of vehicle insurance firms use credit ratings as a standard factor in the determination of the premium rates assessed on individual motorists and the other vehicles in the families fleet of vehicles – whether they be car , truck , can or SUV.
Amazingly there are laws to provide the individual with their credit rating, credit rating and history – as long as the individual asks for it, in the steps required by law. And the credit reporting agency.
Forewarned and informed and individual can take corrective action on credit problems – whether they be missed payments or debts. As well an informed consumer is the know to identify and proceed to correct mistakes in their credit history. Not so with a motorist’s auto insurance vehicle risk score. Not only will they not know that they are being dinged for a poor auto insurance risk score, because of a poor credit history so that their premiums will be much higher than they need be, but once a high premium rate is assessed it may stay in place for many years to come – on not one but a number of vehicles.In addition it is as if the insurance industry reporting system has tentacles in the insurance industry. Should you go to for a quote to a competitive auto insurance firm your poor credit rating has been attached already to your auto insurance risk calculations. Most likely you will find that you will have the same high assessed insurance premiums whoever you go to get a quote. There is no appeal process for this.
What is the message? First of all pay your bills on time. Whether you are irresponsible, disorganized or downright dishonest you should appreciate the fact that your credit rating is more than important to you. Sure you may think that there is nothing wrong in missing a payment – for a charge card, a bank loan or a home mortgage. The higher premiums that you may receive for your auto insurance are just one example that it does matter. On top of that bad business procedures and tactics on your part, on a business long ago dissolved may still sit on your credit history as unresolved debts and liens. You may even be named on such a financial document even though you left a company long ago and are not even employed by them. Check your credit rating for credit problems, that can be resolved and also for downright mistakes and inaccuracies on your credit history. It never hurts to be thorough and it never hurts to pay cash.
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