Joseph Kenny asked:




Home loans and mortgages are asset-acquiring facilities that relieve an individual from making immediate lump sum payments. A home equity loan creates a debt against the borrower’s house. According to this loan, the borrower has equity in his or her home as collateral. ‘Collateral’, here, refers to assets or properties that create a debt obligation. In real estate, the borrower’s equity in an asset refers to the difference between the market price of a property, and the borrower’s home equity loan. Equity is the interest that a borrower pays on the loan.

A mortgage, on the other hand, is a process of using property as security for debt repayment. It is a legal device used for securing an asset. By arranging for mortgage, a borrower can acquire residential or commercial real estate, without the need to pay the full price right away.

Choosing between Home Loans and Mortgages:

- Most home loans require the borrower to have a very good credit history. Hence, individuals with an average credit history are likely to be denied this loan.

- ‘Closed-end Home Equity Loan’ levies a fixed rate of interest for a period of up to 15 years. The borrower receives a lump sum amount at the time of settlement, in the final steps of a transaction. No further loan can be given to the borrower once the final settlement of a real estate transaction is executed. The maximum amount of money that can be given as loan to the borrower depends upon his/her income, credit history and appraised value of collateral, and other finance related information.

- ‘Open-end Home Equity Loan’ is a revolving credit loan that generally levies a variable rate of interest. The borrower can decide when and how frequently to borrow money against the equity. This again is determined on the borrower’s good credit history, consistent income and other such criteria. This loan is available for a period of up to 30 years.

- Mortgage loans are of two types: Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) and Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM). Individuals can choose between the two depending upon their requirements, and the capability to repay loans.

- FRM has a fixed rate of interest, and a fixed amount of monthly payments towards the loan amount. The term of FRM can be for 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. However, some lenders have recently introduced terms of 40 and 50 years.

- ARM interest rate is fixed for a period of time (generally 15 and 30 years), after which it is adjusted according to the market index. ARM interest rates are adjusted periodically on a monthly or yearly basis. The initial rate of interest in ARM is levied in the range of 0.5% to 2%.

- Lenders sanction an ARM loan depending upon a borrower’s credit report and credit score. They prefer to approve loan to borrowers with high credit scores, because low credit scores indicate greater risk of money to lenders. In order to compensate for this increased risk, lenders levy a high rate of interest on loans approved for less creditworthy borrowers.

- ARM loans prove useful to borrowers who own a lot of equity on their home. ARM loans relieve a borrower from heavy monthly payments, and provide them the flexibility to choose the kind of payment to make every month. These loans have a fixed amount of minimum payment to be made every year for 5 consecutive years.

Prospective borrowers should gauge their options carefully before choosing a loan. A well-calculated move can save a great amount of money over the term of the loan.

Julio

Pamella Neely asked:




If you own a home and have a debt load you can no longer handle, one place to go to solve the problem is to the equity in your home. This can mean either getting an entirely new mortgage (sometimes called a debt consolidation mortgage) or applying for a Home Equity Loan or Home Equity Line of Credit. The best option for you will depend on how much equity you have in your house already, and how long you’ve had the mortgage. We’ll review all three options in this article.

Debt Consolidation Mortgages

Getting a new mortgage to consolidate your debt is a good deal for people who having been paying their mortgages very long. This is because of the way mortgage amortization schedules work – you pay most of the interest on your loan upfront.

So if you have a 30 year mortgage and needed to get a debt consolidation mortgage, it would be much better to get the mortgage in the first ten years of your mortgage’s repayment, rather than in the last 10 years. In the last ten years, you’d have already paid all that nasty interest, and would now be paying your mortgage’s principle

down. To get a new mortgage then would almost be just tossing away all that interest you paid for, for nothing.

But getting a debt consolidation mortgage in, say, the third year of your 30 year mortgage, you’d be starting your mortgage payments over again fairly early. In other words, people with little equity in their homes would probably benefit more from a debt consolidation mortgage than a home equity loan or line of credit.

Keep in mind that getting a new mortgage will require a new closing, and mortgage closing can cost hundreds, even a couple of thousands of dollars. In this aspect, debt consolidation mortgages aren’t as good a deal as home equity lines of credit, which can be gotten with no closing costs.

Getting the Equity Out: Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit

Don’t think that someone who’s in the last ten years of paying off a 30 year mortgage is in worse shape that the person on only year three, though. Quite the opposite. Home equity loans and lines of credit are among the best options for a debt consolidation loan.

If you meet the following criteria, all that interest you’ve been paying suddenly becomes a major tax deduction:

- you itemize your tax deductions

- you are deducting interest for your first or second homes only

- the loan is for no more than $100,000

- the interest you want to deduct on any amount of the home equity loan can not be more than the difference between the market value of your home and your mortgage.

For example, say your mortgage is for $200,000 and the market value of your home is $250,000. You can not deduct more than the interest on $50,000 worth of your home equity loan. Of course, owing more on your home than its worth is a very, very bad situation in the first place.

The biggest drawback with home equity loans and lines of credit is that your house is the collateral, so if you don’t change your spending and earning habits and turn your debting into saving, you could find yourself unable to pay the home equity loan, and then in a position where you could lose your house.

Home Equity Loan

These debt consolidation options usually have a fairly low interest rate, but the rate can be variable. You take out a lump sum to consolidate your debts, then pay the home equity loan back with a fixed monthly payment. Be sure you understand the terms of the loan – those variable rates can turn a good loan into a bad loan.

Home Equity Line of Credit (aka HELOC)

This kind of loan is a bit more like a credit card. You get approved for a given amount, and then you can draw as much as you want from it, whenever you want, by writing a check. The amount the lender gives you depends on your home’s value (both Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit usually involve getting an appraisal of your house) and how much you ow on your mortgage. Typically, they’ll give you 70-80% of the difference between the two.

Do NOT work with lenders that encourage you to borrow more than the value of your house. In today’s uncertain real estate market (and larger economy), if you take a loan like that out, and the real estate values in your neighborhood drop, the lender may be able to call your loan. That means you either pay up, or they take your house. This same principle applies to the recently very popular interest-only mortgages.

Avoid these risky loans at all costs. The idea of getting a debt consolidation loan is to get you out of financial trouble, not into more.

Emily

khulet asked:


I’m trying to discover the # of US home mortgages and auto loans financed by banks in the US and the average value of each type of loan. It’s for a school project.

ANTOINE