How To Get A Home Equity Loan Without Losing Your Shirt

Obviously, the title here suggests that you can lose your shirt - or get ripped off with some home equity loans. Here is a common sense approach on how to get and use a home equity loan wisely.

Who Should Get A Home Equity Loan?

In most cases, not nearly as many people should get one as are currently applying for it. Oftentimes, it simply is the result of people who want something - and they want it now. A wise use of your home’s equity, though, is to leave it right where it is - building up even more equity that come will come in real handy when you sell it. A home equity loan, however, is really a loan taken out against your own home. This means that your home itself is the instrument that secures the loan. Your house has now become the guarantee that you will keep on paying your loan. Stopping payments for any reason - you lose it.

What Is A Home Equity Loan?

A home equity loan is typically a second mortgage. As such, it has a higher interest rate than a first mortgage, and a shorter time period to pay it back - up to 15 years.

What Are The Advantages?

A home equity loan can be used for any purpose. It has the best value, though, when used for renovations or improvements on your home. Besides adding to the value of your home (increasing equity even more), the portion used for your home improvement is usually tax deductible, too. This brings down the interest rate more when used for this purpose. A home equity loan can also be obtained in two different ways. You can get them either as an adjustable rate mortgage, or as a fixed rate mortgage. This makes it most convenient, and gives you the flexibility of choice - based on the economy and your situation.

Is There Anything Better Than A Home Equity Loan?

The best deal you can get is to refinance your first mortgage with a cash out mortgage. This gives you new terms on your mortgage, can be used to combine two mortgages (or three), and gives you the lowest interest rate out there. It also gives you access to your equity by simply adding the amount of equity you want onto the loan. You should be planning on staying in that home, though, for at least the next five years to make it worthwhile.

What Should You Watch Out For?

When you go to apply for your home equity loan, you need to take the time to get several quotes and compare them. Lenders have different fees, and other things that they attach to a loan. Some will attach more than others - making their prices higher. By comparing carefully, you can come away with the deal you want. By not paying attention to what you are getting - you could lose your shirt. You could pay thousands of dollars more with one lender than with another. Real savings come to those who pay attention. Also watch out for a lender who tries to give you a loan / equity with a total of more than 80% of the value of your home. You do not need a 125% equity loan - that creates negative equity and will keep you there a long time.

How Can You Get Better Terms?

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. Also, if you reduce your debt beforehand and make corrections on your credit report, it can help you to get a better interest rate and other more acceptable terms.

Joe McGregor writes for Loans and debt information blog, compare loans in the USA, visit them today for secured loans and grab a great deal today.

A Debt Reduction Program Targets Your Most Important Debts

The first step of any good debt reduction program is simply determining how much debt you have and to whom it is owed. This will give you the ability to prioritize which debts need to be paid with the most important ones being taken care of first. While this step might seem some what inconsequential it may be the thing you do to get out of debt.

The reason for this is simple, because until you know where you stand with your debt and to whom it is owed you will have an extremely hard time coming to grips with it, let alone creating a budget to start the road to debt freedom. Debt can have a negative impact on your life both in the present and if nothing is done about it in the future as well.

Once you have listed out your debts you can prioritize them from most important to least important. This does not mean you can ignore the least important ones but they can be put on the back burner until the more dangerous threats to your financial well being are taken care of.

If at the top of your list you find back taxes or a lien against your property or home you need to attack this first. Penalties and compounding interest are the first of your worries in this situation but more worrisome is the power the IRS has when it comes to dealing with those who owe past due taxes. Seizing bank accounts and other assets to pay what you owe can make life very difficult if you run afoul of them.

A mortgage would be another debt that is vitally important to keep paying on. Keeping you and your family sheltered during difficult times is very important from an emotional standpoint. Losing your home to foreclosure can also have long term affects on your ability to find housing elsewhere not to mention its affect on your future financial plans.

Medical bills and child support payments also need to be high on your priority list. Failure to pay these can result in compensatory actions being taken against you. In the case of court ordered child support in many states you can be arrested and jailed for failure to pay. In some states you can also lose you drivers license, making it that much more difficult to get to work and accomplish other tasks that require driving.

Car loans also need to be considered a high priority because it doesn’t take more than falling three months behind before car finance companies will repossess your car. Losing your car can impact your life in many negative ways. One thing to consider if your loan payments are too high is selling the car in order to pay off the loan. A depreciating asset such as a car is not worth your financial future.

You have noticed that credit cards have not been mentioned yet. This is because they are low on the priority list if you have those other types of debt. At the most they should receive minimum payments while you work on keeping current and paying off those debts which pose a greater threat to your financial well being. By targeting your most important debts with a proper debt reduction program you can find financial freedom with a little time and patience.

If you are serious about reducing debt and want more information about a Debt Management Program please visit the website Debt Management.