Home Equity Loan After Bankruptcy - Should You Use A Prime Or Subprime Lender? By L. Sampson

Right after a bankruptcy, your best choice for financing is a subprime lender. Subprime lenders are willing to lend to those with bad credit, even if a bank has turned you down. But if you have improved your credit with time, cash assets, or a high salary, you can get better financing rates with a prime lender.

Begin Your Credit History With A Subprime Lender

Subprime lenders are more lenient with their loan qualifications than prime lenders. As soon as your bankruptcy has finalized, you can qualify for a home equity loan with subprime lending companies.

Rates vary between 1% to 12% over prime rates. The first year after a bankruptcy, rates and fees will be at their highest. After 12 months and a positive payment history, rates will drop by a point or two. 24 months after your bankruptcy, your credit score is largely based on payment history, debt ratio, and income – not your past bankruptcy.

Terms and conditions are also more flexible with a subprime company. They are more willing to offer 100% financing. With some loans, you can include finance fees as part of the principal.

Apply For Prime Financing Sooner Than You Think

Prime home equity financing isn't just for people with perfect credit. You can qualify for prime rates even if you had a bankruptcy two years ago, a late payment on an installment or revolving account, or a debt ratio of 45.

Prime loans offer the lowest financing rates and fees. You are also subject to fewer fees in most cases. Prime lending offers traditional terms, which may limit how much you can borrow.

Where To Find Your Lender

With recent changes in the financing sector, most lenders offer both prime and subprime loans. While most traditional banks and credit unions will offer financing to those with poor credit, they won't always approve home equity loans for people with recent bankruptcies.

Start your financing search by asking for home equity loan quotes from all types of lenders. Be honest about your credit situation, income, and assets. That way you get loan estimates you can rely on.

With some time spent researching financing companies online, you can discover good terms for your next home equity loan.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=75526&ca=Finances

Interest Only Mortgages - What You Need To Know Before Obtaining One By Joseph Kenny

Buying a home is a dream that just about everyone has. Unfortunately, many individuals are unable to afford a home without assistance. Even with financial assistance, in the form of a mortgage, there are still many individuals who find it difficult to own their own home. In recent years, the popularity of interest only mortgages has increased. Interest only mortgages are often viewed as a way to save homeowners money, but are they really?

Interest only mortgages are just what they sound like. For a period of time, you will only have to pay the internet rate of your loan. Instead of making large monthly payments, you will only have to pay the dollar amount of your interest. To many individuals, this means a large savings, but only in the beginning. After the interest only period has ended, you will be required to start making regular payments. Because full payments were not made in the beginning, your monthly payments will be higher than normal.

Saving money, even if only for a short period of time, is appealing to many individuals. That is why interest only mortgages are so popular. Unfortunately, many individuals end up in financial trouble because of them. In addition to experiencing financial difficulty, there are some individuals who have even lost their homes. That is why it is extremely important to fully examine and understand interest only mortgages before trying to obtain one.

In the past, interest only mortgages were only obtained by wealthy individuals. Many of these individuals could afford to make the higher monthly payments later on. Now, interest only mortgages are popular among individuals of all social standings. While interest only mortgages are pushed and offered to all, there are some who may benefit from them and others that may not. Before agreeing to an interest only mortgage, you are urged to determine what type of individual you are.

Most individuals get paid a certain amount of money each week. Others get paid commission or multiple bonuses a year. If you are one of those individuals, you may be able to benefit from an interest only mortgage. If you are sure that you will see an increase in income in the future, you may not have a difficult time making the higher monthly payments once the interest only period has ended.

If you live paycheck to paycheck or if you only receive a set amount of money each week, you may want to obtain a traditional mortgage. Too many individuals are purchasing homes that they cannot afford. This is often because interest only mortgages lead them to believe that they actually can afford them. If you cannot or do not expect to be able to afford your regular monthly mortgage payments, you are encouraged not to obtain this type of loan. Not paying your mortgage can result in damage to your credit and the loss of your home.

You should be able to determine for yourself whether or not you can benefit from an interest only mortgage. If you are unable to do so, you may want to consider seeking professional guidance. Real estate agents, accountants, and financial advisors may be able to offer you assistance with the process of buying and affording a home. Whether you seek professional assistance or not, you are advised to fully examine your decision. If you don’t, you can forever end up suffering the consequences.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=74672&ca=Finances

High Cost For Health Insurance If You Are Self-Employed By Keith George

One of the greatest uncertainties in life is falling sick or being disabled with no money in your pocket, especially if you are self-employed. This uncertainty can be overcome by a health insurance which is a system in which the insurer, usually a private company or government owned company pays the medical expenses of the insured, if the insured falls sick or gets in an accident due to covered causes. In return the insured has to pay a monthly premium to the insurance company. Health insurance which provides insurance for the self-employed is known as self-employed health insurance.

Self-employed include farmers, contractors and small business owners, freelance writers, lawyers etc. There are some factors that separate self employed health insurance from ordinary health insurance.

Cost - Self-employed health insurance is costlier than health insurance provided through an employer (like a company). This is because in larger groups the cost of insurance gets distributed as compared to smaller groups. This is one of the reason people are reluctant to go for self employment. There are ways and means to reduce this cost which will be detailed subsequently.

Tax Benefit - Fortunately the self-employed health insurance premium is 100% tax deductible.

Reducing Costs - The best way to reduce insurance cost is to go for family cover in your spouse group insurance through his/her company (that is if your spouse is working). Another way is if you employ between 2 to 50 people, you can go for group insurance.

If you are leaving a corporate job you can opt for COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). COBRA is a law that makes it mandatory for your employer to provide the option of retaining membership in their health insurance plan. However you will have to pay the entire monthly premium part which was paid by your company earlier. However you may be surprised at the high cost of the premium which may run up to 500$ a month.

Temporary Health Insurance - If you are planning to remain self employed for a small period of time and plan to join another company later, you can opt for a temporary health insurance. This is the cheapest type of health insurance available today. However annually the premium keeps increasing as you grow older.

If you have none of the above ways to reduce insurance cost then the only way is to go for standard individual policy. As mentioned earlier they are usually costly but are very important for insuring the future.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=74806&ca=Finances

What To Do When You Are Turned Down For A Loan By Tabitha Naylor

Often, when your lender scrutinizes your loan application, and it is turned down for one reason or another, it is very distressing and discouraging. If this happens, you need to understand just why the decision was taken, and do what is necessary to remedy the situation. The causes for rejection listed below will help you understand why mortgage applications are declined.

Causes for rejection:

1. The appraised value is far too low: Your lender perhaps found the ratio of the loan amount to the sale price or the appraised value of the property to be substantially lower than the purchase price or loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. Or perhaps the LTV is higher than your lender is allowed to approve. Or, perhaps you have applied for 90-100% of the purchase price, as new the loan amount. A low appraisal will then make your loan request far too large.

If the seller’s price of the property far outstrips the prevailing rates in your locality, you would be best advised to renegotiate the price with him so that it conforms to the prices in the area. It should also be one which your lender would not refuse in order to pass your loan request. If this can’t be done, it might be a better idea to accept a smaller loan amount, and pay the balance from your personal funds.

2. Insufficient funds: When your lender goes through your financial information and your verification of deposits, he (or she) might find that you do not have enough funds to make the necessary down payment and cover closing costs. Even if these funds do not come from a loan, a gift could go a long way. Alternatively, you could ask the seller to take back a second mortgage on the property. This would help lower your down payment. Alternatively, you could get the seller to pay some of the closing costs. All these things could easily help your situation. Not to mention, each would help you buy more time, which would allow you to save more money.

3. Do you have insufficient income? Lenders will refuse your loan application if they find that the mortgage payment on your property exceeds approximately 28 percent of your monthly gross income. In addition, if your total debt, including mortgage payments and other installments reporting on credit, exceed 50 per cent, you stand to be refused. The figures are higher for FHA loans. But the situation can improve for you if your credit card record is good and you can prove that you already are carrying a huge household expense, including rent or mortgage payments. This is primarily the reason why it is highly recommended to be as accurate as possible when disclosing income and expenses on your initial application.

4. Up to your eyes in debt: Often, lenders don’t reject applications solely because of the amount of debt someone carries. Most of the time, loan applications are rejected due to excessive amounts of credit cards and other revolving credit accounts, which show histories of rising account balances that come close to the limit prescribed. Such information is detrimental if you are out to prove your creditworthiness. To remedy the situation, you will need to pay off as many of your debts as possible and then reapply for a loan.

5. Poor credit history: What can be more devastating than to have your loan request turned down due to a history of poor debt repayment habits? If your lender sees that you have a history of making late payments often, owing outstanding amounts to the bank, or insolvency, he/she is hardly likely to pass a loan application for the purchase of property. Your lender is surely not going to be tolerant of a bad credit record. Even if you have had a low loan-to-value ratio on past accounts, and you have low debt ratios, you cannot wipe out a history of poor credit.

Rejection is not the end of the world: Just because a lender rejects your loan application doesn’t mean you can never own property in your life. You can take corrective steps to improve your chances of acceptance. But, if you work diligently, you will iron out the wrinkles. The key is to find out why your loan application was rejected, and work towards correcting the issues.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=68054&ca=Finances