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5 Tips for Savvy Use of Your Home Equity Line of Credit
Tapping your home's equity to pay college expenses, consolidate credit card debt or even to buy a new car or boat is common place. Many economists attribute the additional buying power afforded consumers through home equity debt as a primary...
Credit, Money and the Home
Did you know that money is mentioned in the bible more times that heaven or hell? Does the idea of telling your spouse what you spent on marketing send chills down your spine? Why? Because you have nothing to show for it…yet? Do you have a set...
How To Deal With Credit Denial
Understanding what's on your credit report is extremely important. Especially, if you have applied for credit and the creditor denied your application. If you are denied credit, do not ignore this fact. Most individuals will move on to the next...
Using Credit Cards Wisely
"I think money was stolen from my card" or "I might have blocked my card in the ATM" - these are frequent problems that bank customer-support officers usually hear from agitated clients. Incorrect use of credit cards or wrong interpretations of...
Your Credit Report, A little Improvement Can Go A Long Way.
You may think you have a marvelous credit report, be cautious of the mistake factor. Just as you receive mail with your name and address misspelled, your credit report can have errors just like anything else. Whether it is someone’s typing over...
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The True cost of Credit
The current house price boom has perhaps passed its peak as I write this, but that doesn't stop the mortgage companies from offering yet more new and tempting products that look like good deals for a consumer. But be warned - The standard mortgage, running over 25 years is set like that for a reason! When you see companies offering '40 year mortgages' or 'low start' mortgages, or perhaps even 'interest only' mortgages, you should understand these shiny new products may have a nasty sting in their credit tail!
Perhaps the ultimate expression of lending absurdity is Japan, where at the peak of their last boom, 'Grandfather - Father - Son' mortgages were common. These committed unborn future generations to mortgage payments incurred by their predecessors (a situation thankfully illegal in most parts of the world!). Could it ever happen here? Probably not, but the extension of 'standard' mortgage terms on lower interest rates are not actually a good thing for the ordinary Joe, even though they are touted as being 'more affordable', and should be viewed with deep distrust, simply because it means YOU WILL PAY MORE over the life of the loan. Don't believe me? Try working out the math,
instead of simply looking at the monthly repayment figure.
Using the good old loan calculator on www.nodebtever.com we can see that a standard $100,000 loan at 5% over 25 years will cost you over $175,000. That's a big $75k in interest. What about the same loan over 40 years at 4%? That's cheaper, right? WRONG! You'll pay over $200,000 over the period - an extra $25k or so! And if interest rates stay at 5%, add another $30k to make $55k of extra costs for you!
A repayment mortgage will suffer an additional penalty on a longer loan - the amount of capital you pay off each month is adjusted to take account of the fact that it now runs over 40 years, not 25, and this means you build up equity in your property far slower than in a shorter loan.
So what's the advice? If you can't afford a house on a 'traditional' setup, rent. The price will undoubtedly come back into line with wages at some point. If you already have a mortgage, overpay when you can - the difference over the years can amount to TENS of thousands of dollars!
About the Author
Aimee Phillips writes for www.NoDebtEver.com a free site debt problem article for you
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