Archive for February, 2010

Mortgage Cycling Secrets Revealed

Have you heard about mortgage cycling? Maybe you’ve seen the ads for books on this “secret technique” for paying off your mortgage sooner. Is there some useful information in them? Yes, especially if you are not familiar with the basic premise that you can pay extra principle every year and you’ll pay off the loan sooner and save thousands on interest.

Mortgage cycling is dressed up as a “new” system, and of course there are many little tricks to doing this most effectively. There are more risky techniques too, like using short-term home-equity loans to pay down your primary mortgage now. This latter technique could cost you more in interest or even put you into financial trouble that leads towards foreclosure.

The safest way of “mortgage cycling” is to just put large lump sums of money towards your mortgage loan every few months to a year. Pay thousands of pounds extra per year, and you will pay off your loan many years sooner. No surprise there, right, but what if you don’t have the hundreds of pounds a month extra needed to do this?

Money For Mortgage Cycling

Don’t assume you can’t come up with SOME extra money, at least each year. Some will say they can’t, and yet still add hundreds of pounds per month to credit card payments from buying anything from expensive shoes to snowmobiles. There’s nothing wrong with buying these things, but the choice is yours if you want to pay down that mortgage instead.

You can also pay off large chunks of principle by using your annual tax refund, insurance settlements that are not otherwise allocated, and any cash gifts or prizes you may receive.

How much sooner you can pay off your mortgage depends on how much extra you pay and when. The sooner you pay extra money towards the principle, the better. Let’s demonstrate with a simple example, just making an extra payment each month.

Suppose you have a 160,000 30-year mortgage at a 7% annual interest rate. Regular monthly payments would be 1064.40. If you looked at your second payment you would see that it’s composed of 932.57 interest and 131.83 principle (the amount you actually pay down the loan). Just add 131.83 to your normal payment of 1064.40, and you have taken an entire month off the time it will take to pay off your mortgage.

If you did this each month, you would cut the time to pay off your loan in half. The principle part of the payment would be growing with each payment, so the extra payment would be a little more each month (around 137 by the end of the first year), but hopefully over the years your income will rise enough to afford that. Consider that if you pay normally, your last year of the mortgage you’ll pay 12,772.80 (1064.40 x 12 months). On the other hand, pay about an extra 1600 that first year, in the way shown above, and you’ll eliminate that entire last year – a savings of over 11,000!

Other ways to pay off extra principle need to be evaluated carefully. You could, for example, put a few thousand of your savings towards the loan now and save perhaps tens of thousands in interest over the years. However, will you then need to pay even higher credit card rates because you emptied your savings account and need some money? You could cash in stocks and apply the money to the loan, but will you be giving up a 9% return to pay down a 7% mortgage? You may also want to consider paying off any debts with higher interest rates before you apply extra money to your mortgage.

To keep it simple, set aside extra money every month and apply it to the loan. Then use any other money that may otherwise be squandered (like tax refunds). If you just do a few simple things to pay something extra on the loan each year, and you can forget about complicated mortgage cycling plans.

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Monday, February 22nd, 2010 Mortgage Fee No Comments

Mortgage Can Be A Long Engagement

Mortgage is a legal tool that pledges a real estate property as repayment in order to obtain a loan. Even though a person does not have enough funds to buy a property outright in cash, he can do so through mortgage. Mortgage provides the guarantee that the loan will be paid back on time. How so? Should the borrower fail to pay for the loan, the lender may recover the amount of loan by foreclosure and sale of the mortgaged property.

A note, specifying the financial terms of a loan agreement is one part of the mortgage lending process. The second part, the mortgage paper describes the legal specifics of the property and further promises the property as guarantee for the repayment of the loan.

Mortgage lenders are usually banks, credit union or other financing institutions. These lenders mostly require the borrower to put up a certain amount of cash as down payment for the purchase. If the borrower aims to buy a 200,000-pound-home, he has to pay first the required down payment of 10,000 from his own funds then apply for a mortgage loan in the amount of 190,000 to cover the difference.

Lending firms are quite strict on granting mortgage loans. Lenders require information details of the borrower and use it to assess the borrowers ability and readiness to pay the loan. Needless to say, the borrower should disclose to the lender, personal as well as business facts, from whom he is securing the mortgage loan.

Before a mortgage loan is granted, the property put up as guarantee will be appraised for its estimated market value by a professional appraiser. The lender wants to make sure that the value of the property is equally worth as the loan in case the borrower defaults on the loan and lender has to foreclose said property.

Mortgage loan is granted after all the requirements are satisfied. The mortgage loan agreement will spell out the current interest rates and loan repayment terms like amount and frequency, etcetera.

The mortgage loan interest rate and number of years will determine the amount of monthly payments. Duration of mortgage ranges from the shortest, 1 year up to 25 years or possibly more.

There are other conditions the borrower has to comply when he accepts the mortgage loan. First, he must sign a promissory note that he is obliged to repay the mortgage debt. Second, borrower also has to have fire and other hazards insurance on the property, as well as pay the property tax. Failure on the part of the borrower to fulfill these obligations constitutes a default on the mortgage loan and will mean foreclosure on the property by the lender.

The actual mortgage loan fund release will happen at the end. The borrower will receive the money intended for the house purchase from the lender and sign the mortgage documents. The mortgage loan definitely will have other costs to be borne by the borrower. These costs or charges are usually processing fee, charges for credit reports, appraisal fee and other service fees relative to the application for the mortgage loan.

Mortgage payments schemes will largely depend on the interest rate and payment period. Interest payment is the first part and principal payment is the second part of the mortgage payment.

In a mortgage payment, interest is the cost for using the money of the lender while principal is the amount the borrower still owes the lender. The process of repayment of mortgage is call amortization.

The details of mortgage repayment will be thoroughly discussed by the lender with the borrower during the transaction so that both parties will comprehend the full scope of the agreement. Monthly payment schedule of the mortgage loan will be provided to the borrower and becomes part of the mortgage documents.

At the end of the mortgage loan transaction, both parties emerge happier – the lender, for having served a satisfied customer; the borrower, who has just bought his dream project.

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Monday, February 15th, 2010 Mortgage Fee No Comments

Mortgage Brokers What Are They?

A mortgage broker is an individual which acts as a middle man between lenders and borrowers. A skilled mortgage broker can look at a variety of different loans to find one which suits the needs of the borrowers. Once they have found a mortgage which meets the needs of their clients, they are then paid a fee which is a percentage of the money loaned.

What Is A Mortgage Brokers Purpose?

If you don’t have the time to look for a good mortgage, a mortgage broker can assist you. Looking for a good mortgage requires you to contact a variety of different lenders and compare the interest rates on different loans. You will also need to know about the different fees and closing costs which will be included with the mortgage. This can be tedious and time consuming, especially if you are a very busy person. A mortgage broker should be able to perform all of these tasks, saving you a lot of time.

Poor Credit? A Mortgage Broker May Help!

If you have a less than perfect credit history you may have trouble locating a mortgage at competitive interest rates. Using a mortgage broker in this situation may allow you to find better deals than you would find on your own. Many banks aren’t flexible with down payments, and a mortgage broker can find companies and negotiate a down payment which is much lower than you would find at many banks. If you don’t like negotiating deals, mortgage brokers may be an excellent choice for you.

Speculate To Accumulate

While using a mortgage broker may sound expensive, it is often a lot cheaper than the price you would pay to use the services of the lender in locating a good mortgage. If you are able to get a lower interest rate by using a broker, this is more money you will save. At the same time, you can run into problems if you use the wrong broker. Below are some things to look at when choosing which mortgage broker you want to use.

Shopping Around For The Best Deal

You should first talk to multiple brokers to compare their services and fees. You should also ask them for references. A mortgage is a serious part of your financial picture, and you can’t afford using brokers which will not give you the best service possible. All of the fees charged by the broker should be explained up front. In fact, you will want to make sure they are put in writing. The price a broker charges will typically be between the retail and wholesale price of the mortgage.

Many brokers will mark up the price of their services. You should look at multiple brokers to make sure the prices are comparable. If one broker has a much higher price than another, this typically means they are marking up their prices to get the highest commission possible. It is also important to make sure you read the agreement carefully. Ask about any terms you don’t understand.

Reading The Small Print

You should also make sure all the information on your application is accurate. Make sure the broker doesn’t add information which is inaccurate or false. Once you have found a service you’re interested in, go back to your bank or other lending institutions to see if they are willing to beat the price. You should also only borrow the money you need and keep a close watch on interest rates.

If the mortgage broker charges you for locking in a certain interest rate, make sure you get a copy which shows information from the lender. Mortgage lenders have been known to keep the fees they charge for locking in interest rates. You should also make sure the loan you get is the one which was promised.

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Monday, February 8th, 2010 Mortgage Fee No Comments

Mortgage

A mortgage is a practice by which the ownership of the property is passed from the mortgagor, to the mortgagee, in return for the loan of the money, the mortgagee is the lender and the mortgagor is the borrower. The mortgagee has limited rights on the property until the loan is paid off. Most probably the mortgage loan is taken for home improvements, or financing college education. The interest rate for mortgage loan varies depending on the type of the loan

Mortgage banks and Mortgage brokers are the best options for reviewing of mortgage loan applications.

For Mortgage banks, the staff of the bank will process the loan application, as most of the banks are controlled by the government agencies, the borrower can be assured that the mortgage loan will be approved and granted by reliable sources and there will be no discontinuation in the loan. The bank will provide a range of mortgage service providers for a particular loan application, and the borrower should select the best available option from them. The borrower should deal with the service providers, compare each of the interest rates and select the best option. The loan application will be processed much faster by bank staff.

Mortgage brokers will present the best available option for a particular loan; the brokers will provide the best option for a loan application that meets the borrowers’ needs. If the loan product is selected, then the borrower should deal directly with the service provider to finish the formalities. Most of the information on loan products of mortgage service providers will be available with the mortgage brokers.

The borrower before using the services of the brokers should verify whether the mortgage broker is registered with any reliable company or service.

Mortgage loan types

There are many types of mortgage loans available in the mortgage industry, but the two most common types of loans are Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) and Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM).

For fixed rate mortgage, the interest rates are fixed and are high, the rates will not change during the life of the loan, the repayment time ranges from 10 to 20 years.

For adjustable rate mortgage, the interest rate fluctuates with respect to a standard market index, it will increase or decrease with respect to the index, the borrower cannot predict the interest rate for the next interest period before hand, if the interest rate increases, the borrower has to pay the extra cost, to avoid this, some lenders offer interest lock, using this, the borrower will repay the debt on a fixed interest rate for a particular period, the lender will charge extra money for this service. The repayment time ranges from 5-10 years.

The borrowers who borrow fixed rate mortgage loans are more financially secure than who borrows adjustable rate mortgage loans. The proceeds from adjustable rate mortgage negates any risk and most of the borrowers’ uses this loan as repayment mode.

Presently the mortgage markets in Asia are growing mush fast than the developed countries. In Asia, India has the second highest interest rate of 7%.In UK, interest rate for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage loan (FRM) is 12% and for 30-year adjustable rate mortgage is 15%.For a 1-year adjustable rate mortgage loan (ARM) is 4.05%.

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Monday, February 1st, 2010 Mortgage Fee No Comments