Home Equity Loans – second mortgage

stephanie s asked:


My husband and I took out a home equity loan last year. Is the interest tax deductible?

Gail

Hans Sept asked:




Our home is the place where we spend most of our time. It has great sentimental value to us. However, it can also be a great asset. It can take your life time to pay for your home. As you have paid for your home it has continued to increase in value. This equity can be used to obtain a loan or a line of credit that can help you get through financially challenging times. There are many other credit options such as various types of loans, or a credit cards. The disadvantage to these is that they charge huge amounts of interest when compared to using the equity in your home. This line of credit provides an extra amount of money at a much lower interest rate than other types of credit. It may even be be tax-deductible therefore it is growing in popularity; this feature is not available with other types of credit.

A loan using your home as collateral can help you out of a troubling financial situation. There are several different places to apply for a loan. You can go to a financial institution or apply online. Online options is very convenient and usually pretty fast. The home equity loan can be used to consolidate other loans. Since it has a lower interest rate it can save you quite a bit in the long run. This can reduce your payments and also help your credit score.

If you desire to remodel your home or make renovations to your home then taking out this line of credit can be the best way. For instance, many of us want to modify the kitchen or add some features to the bathroom and a loan can provide you with the money to make the needed changes and increase the value of your home. Therefore a home equity loan is equal to making a long term investment.

The cost of higher education is becoming more and more expensive. Your home equity is a valuable asset that you have readily available which can help you obtain funds for educational purposes. You can use the line of credit to pay your for tuition fees or for other educational expenses. This is very effective as it will help you avoid higher interest rates and plan according to your budget.

A home equity loan can be used for anything that is needed. For instance it can be used to pay off medical bills. There are no stipulations to how it can be spent. Therefore the equity in your home is a beneficial asset for you to use for whatever you may need.

Vivian

dreamwalker2001 asked:


Lately I haven’t been working as many hours because of cutbacks so I’ve fallen behind in a few payments. So I’ve tried to obtain a small loan from a few banks with no luck. I’ve been paying my morgage on time for more than 15 years and never considered home equity. Why are these banks telling me I can’t be approved for a small amount but they’ll let me borrow 10 times as much with a home equity loan?

Dora

Mary Wise asked:




Working as a financial consultant, I get hundreds of emails and calls everyday inquiring about many different financial products. I have noticed that home equity loans are a very common source of doubt for my customers. As regards home equity lines of credit… well, let us just say that great many people do not even know of their existence. It is a real pity that these products are not better known because they are incredibly versatile as they can be used for many different purposes. They are also very cheap sources of finance.

That is why I decided to write an article on the basic concepts of both of these fantastic financial products.

Home Equity Loan

Home equity loans are usually referred to as second mortgages, because they are secured against the value of the house. The borrower uses the equity on his property as a collateral for the loan. So… what does equity mean? Equity is the different between the property’s market value and the remaining balance of the mortgage and any owed debts related to the property. If you have finished paying the mortgage on your home (or never applied for one), then the equity on your home is 100% of the real value. If you have already paid 40% of the home, then the equity will be worth 40% of the real value of the property.

Loans based on the equity on your home are marvellous. They are granted almost to any home owner and their terms are usually extremely favourable. Not only are the interest rates very low, but they are also deductible!

What use can the borrower give to the money? Well, that is the beauty of this type of loan. You can do anything, the world is your oyster! Whether you need to remodel your house, add rooms to it, go away on a long vacation, purchase a used or new car, or even acquire a second property, home equity loans can help you in so doing. There is no limit to what you can do, only your imagination.

Repayment plans range from 5 to 20 years, and as you might have noticed, they are somewhat shorter than the repayment plans on mortgage loans.

Home Equity Lines Of Credit

This credit is also know as an open-end home equity loan. It is also a loan based on the equity on your home, but it has one major difference: you decide how much and how often to withdraw funds. The lender sets a limit on how much can be withdrawn, but once this amount is repaid, the borrower can take out funds again, and so on.

Lines of credit based on equity are perfect for you if your monthly income is variable (as often happens with self-employed people). There is a minimum monthly payment which consists of the interest rate if you have not withdrawn any funds.

If what you are looking for is flexibility, then a line of credit will be just perfect for you. No fixed monthly payments, instant availability of funds at your best convenience, among other advantages.

Now you are fully aware of what these two equity based credit products have to offer, it is up to you to choose the one which best meets your requirements.

Margaret

Tim Gorman asked:




Bad Credit home equity loans require that you own a property and have sufficient equity left to secure the loan. Bad credit can be overlooked since the lender has sufficient assurance that he will recover his money either by payment or through repossession. Home equity loans come with variable interest rates as well as fixed rates . Depending on your ability to pay and your choice of payment, the terms of interest will be decided. Home equity loans have a very high incidence of being the finest option for people contemplating debt consolidation. Your success with bad credit home equity loans rests on the simple fact that you make a plan and cling to it religiously.

Improve your financial status to enjoy your financial life. The home equity loans will also minimize your cost of the payments that you have to make on a monthly basis. Improving your credit score and repairing your credit should be a high priority. Want to learn how to get approved for the credit you deserve?

All lenders prefer to do business with people with good credit history. Therefore, for people with bad credit history, it is advisable to seek alternatives to getting your loans. Lenders are currently offering loan products for all types of credit situations. If you have bad credit and own your home, a home equity loan can be designed to fit your individual needs.

Lenders base their financial decisions largely on your credit score. You need to get a copy of your credit report and make sure it is accurate. Lenders are required to provide these settlement costs after application is submitted. Lenders also keeping the competitive atmosphere in mind are ready to negotiate the interest rates by making low and reasonable offers. So, applicants, by collating the loan quotes, can spot economical figures suitable to their budget.

Lenders use your credit score to determine whether you are a bad credit risk or not when lending money. Bad credit can be repaired over time.

Lenders are more flexible if a loan is secured by greater equity. Lenders consider a credit score of 620 and above as safe for providing a loan.

Mortgage lenders are offering great interest rates and easy terms on home equity loans, even if your credit history is less than perfect. Mortgage rates can change daily, and sometimes even multiple times per day depending on economic factors. For accurate mortgage rate comparisons, try to get quotes on the same day! Mortgage can be defined as a loan which will provide monetary help to purchase any real estate property. The borrower can make his payments regularly to the lender.

Bad credit home equity loans can be obtained online or from a mortgage lender . You should first begin your search by contacting your mortgage lender and asking about home equity loans. Home equity loans are preferred for many reasons. The interest rate of an equity loan is comparatively low.

Willie

Kate Ross asked:




There are many issues involved in this decision. These issues include the amount of money you can save on interests, the possibility to loose those savings due to changes in market conditions, the possibility to end up paying even more than what you projected, the possibility of being unable to repay the monthly installments and having to refinance your loan.

Home Equity Loans

Home equity loans are secured loans that guarantee the lender repayment of the loan with the remaining equity on your home. Equity is the difference between your home value and the outstanding debt guaranteed by the property (usually a home mortgage). The secured nature of these loans provides the borrower with many benefits.

For starters, with home equity loans you can obtain higher loan amounts than with unsecured loans. Moreover, you can obtain longer repayment programs and thus, lower monthly payments than with unsecured loans. But most importantly, these loans have lower costs because the interest rate charged is significantly lower than the rate charged for unsecured loans. All of this is due to the lower risk that the use of collateral implies for the lender.

Interest Rate

As Explained above, due to the lower risk, home equity loans feature lower rates than almost any other kind of financial product. These loans offer rates lower than credit cards, store cards, unsecured personal loans, pay day loans, cash advance loans, overdrawn agreements, etc. Probably the only loans that feature lower rates are home loans and some subsidized student and business loans.

Not only the interest rate is lower than almost every other financial product, it also comes in two shapes. You can obtain a home equity loan with a fixed interest rate or with a variable (adjustable) interest rate. There are some differences between these two kinds of interest rates than can be very important when it comes to deciding which loan best suits your needs.

Variable or Fixed

A fixed interest rate stays unaltered through the whole life of the loan which in turn implies fixed monthly payments over the whole life of the loan too. This provides a lot of certainty to the borrower that can budget the loan payments with confidence knowing that they will stay the same each month. But, it doesn’t provide such certainty to the lender who can suffer from inflation and loose money to a fixed rate. That’s why fixed rates are always higher than variable rates at any given time.

Variable rates on the other hand, will change every three or six months according to the market conditions. Almost always these changes are moderate and don’t alter monthly payments too much. However, if an increasing tendency subsists on the market, a variable rate can turn a home equity loan into a very onerous deal.

Bernice

Jim Aldridge asked:




What are the typical considerations when purchasing a real estate property? When a home for sale catches your attention, what do you have in mind? Is it the price of the house? Is it the money in your bank? Or will it be the money that you can make each month? Location, number of bedrooms; just exactly what runs in your mind? Well, all of these things are what goes in the mind of a home buyer. If you don’t have the money to pay in cash then you are probably thinking of applying for a mortgage loan.

If you are a typical buyer who don’t have the budget to purchase a real estate property or limited due to a bad credit then you will find home equity loan attractive. It is a type of home mortgage loan that will allow you to borrow even a huge amount of money provided that the house serves as the collateral. It makes it secured for the lender who will not worry about default payments. Thus, it also benefits the borrower for ensuring that the mortgage is the priority when budgeting.

Benefits

There are many reasons why the home loan equity is a smart choice. These include:

1. Good credit score is not a requirement hence qualifying is easier- you don’t need that credibility to avail this loan. After all, you can’t run away with the house.

2. It offers a competitive annual percentage rate- it lets you assess the mortgage loan cost in terms of percentage. Say for instance, the loan rate is 10% and the applied loan cost is $10,000. Your interest rate for the year will be $1,000 which you can then divide by 12.

3. Huge amount of loans is available- as mentioned earlier, this type of loan offers less risk in case of default payments. The lender can easily collect since the house serves as collateral

4. It usually offers mortgage loans that are tax deductible

Apart from the benefits of home equity loan, it can also offer different purposes that are not relevant to real estate property acquisition such as payment for college education, refinancing, consolidation of high-interest debts and it can only be used just for home renovation or remodeling.

Downside

You may find home equity loan very generous and helpful however, it is wise to know its downside. For one, you can be homeless the moment you default in payment. Thus, it is the most common type of loan that some scammers use to take hold of someone else’s valuable property. Make sure that every transaction is documented.

Some tips to remember when availing home equity loans include choosing from variety of sources such as credit unions, banks and brokers; reach out to friends and relatives for connections; and compare rates available. Also, remember that applying for a loan is a huge decision that requires logical analysis and considerations. Your real estate property is at stake. If your purpose of availing a loan is not as important as your house, consider looking around for other types of loans.

Cheryl

Martin Mathers asked:




Bad credit home loans are a rather vague concept, since they can refer to one of two things: either a loan taken out to buy a new home (otherwise known as a mortgage) or a loan taken out against the equity in a home you already own (known as a home equity loan). Whichever you mean though, the ‘bad credit’ part is the part that’ll cause the ears of your nearest bank or major lender to prick up – with all kinds of home lending becoming increasingly difficult to get in the current economic climate, it’s not surprising that people with poor credit ratings are finding it hard to get the home-related money they need.

Of course, there are always ways and means of finding someone willing to support your application for a bad credit home loan; you just need to be extra careful that you’re not putting yourself in a position where you could ultimately lose everything. In the case of home equity loans, this is especially important since you’re essentially putting your entire home at risk against whatever equity you’re releasing (with equity being the difference between the amount you owe on your mortgage and the actual value of the property). That’s assuming you’ve got any equity available to release, of course – with house prices at a serious low, many people are finding that their homes are actually worth less than what they owe on them!

Unfortunately, freeing up equity on your home while you have a poor credit rating isn’t exactly easy, since major lenders will usually turn you away immediately; this leaves you having to approach specialist lenders offering incredibly high interest rates and loans that may be beyond your affordability, which is often the cause of people falling behind on repayments and losing their homes. As such, it’s vital that you explore all your options – for instance, a Bad Credit Loan may be a better solution since you could be approved for one without putting your home at risk.

Getting a new mortgage while suffering from bad credit can also be very hard, especially since the interest rates being offered and deposits required are often so high that they’re unobtainable by many people. That’s not to say it’s impossible to buy a home if you have bad credit but it may be smarter to repair your credit rating first, possibly through a loan or a credit card designed to help people raise their credit score. In the case of a Bad Credit Loan, you could even borrow the money and put it straight into a high-interest bank account, then leave it there to build up some interest – then when you’ve paid off the loan, you’ve got a ready-made deposit for a home just sitting there for you to use!

In Summary

A bad credit home loan…

Can either be a mortgage taken out with bad credit or a remortgage to free up home equity May be difficult to get from banks or major lenders due to your credit rating Will likely have higher interest rates to protect the lender from the bad credit risk Puts your home at risk if you fail to make repayments (in the case of an equity loan) Needs serious consideration, since it’s a long-term borrowing commitment

Copyright: Individual Finance, 2010

Megan

Roper Comptois asked:




Countrywide home equity loans are a good option for house owners who are in need of extra finance. Extra finance could be for various reasons such as house renovation, education, medical, and travel and auto loan. Processing the loan is easy and the money is given within a short duration.

This loan is especially useful when a large amount of money is required for personal needs and it is the best and quickest option in times of emergency. The advantage of this loan is that the interest rates are much lower than the other loan options.

There are two types of countrywide home equity loans. In both the loans the borrower can borrow a sum of money for a stipulated time period as per the terms and conditions. They are eligible only if they use their home for the loan. Super Stream line home equity is for borrowers who already have an existing home loan. These borrowers are entitled only for a certain percentage and not total value of the home.

Certain obligations have to be fulfilled in order to avail this loan such as satisfying the eligibility, filling the application form and getting full consent to go ahead with the loan. The lenders with cross check all the data given and verify the complete background of the borrower. Submission of the application can be done online or at any branches of the institution. Once the approval is obtained the borrower will be given complete instructions about usage of the loan. Apart from this a set of papers and agreements mentioning all the rules conditions and terms has to be accepted and signed by the borrower.

The specialty of countrywide home equity loans is that it has some convenient features to offer. The borrower can withdraw his loan amount at any point within the period allowed and the money will be sent to his personal bank account. The borrower is also allowed to avail of the credit line as many times he wants as long as he keeps paying is loan. The borrower also has the option to pay up only the interest amount during the drawing term given to him. Another advantage of this is that there is no set rate as the interest rate is calculated on the balance outstanding. Finally an added advantage to the borrower is that the loan interest is nontaxable. But the main disadvantage of not paying back the loan could lead to losing the ownership of the house and losing your reputation.

Frederick

Joe asked:


We plan to use a home equity loan to rebuild our studio, putting the loan money in a separate bank account and using that account solely for “construction costs” to ensure the interest remains tax-deductible.

Question 1: We’re paying an architect to design the building and we have to pay the city a permit fee to review and approve the design. Are these two fees considered part of the “construction costs” of a building so we can use the loan to pay these without worrying about the IRS coming after us?

Question 2: Given this scenario, would it be wiser to use a Home Equity Line of Credit so we only borrow what we need when we need it? My concern (as always) is variable interest rates on the lines of credit, so I’d get a lower interest rate today, but it might be higher next year.

Thanks!

Joe

Leon