18 Ways to Reduce Your Mortgage Loan Part 2

Author: Kevin Saunders

9. Stay informed - don't forget about your mortgage - visit http://www.mortgageloanhints.com

With any long-term commitment, there is always the temptation to let your mortgage roll along, make your repayments as they fall due and think as little about it as possible. As long as you keep up the repayments, there's not much else you need to do, right?

This attitude can be a big mistake. Keep yourself up to date with what's happening in the marketplace. You might find that there's an opportunity to put yourself well ahead of the game. Rates change, new products and changes in the market itself may allow you to seize an opportunity or negotiate a better deal.

Stay informed and stay ahead of the game.

10. Get a cheap rate and invest the difference

When interest rates are low, like now, it is usually safe to say that inflation is also low. Thus, bricks and mortar may not be the best place to invest. Try getting the cheapest home loan you can find and make the minimum repayment. This allows you to use the extra cash to invest in other, more profitable areas.

You may find that the return you get on shares or some other type of investment means that you have created a nice little nest egg which you can use to pay off a bigger chunk of your home loan than you might otherwise have been able to do.

But beware - high returns often mean high risks. Before undertaking any investment, invest in a consultation with a qualified financial adviser.

11. Run an offset account

Instead of earning interest, any money you have in your offset account works to offset the interest you are paying on your home loan. For example you may have a mortgage of $300,000 at 6.5 percent and an offset account with $50,000 in it earning 3 percent.

This means that $250,000 of your loan is accruing interest at 6.5 percent but the rest is accruing interest at just over 3.5 percent (6.5 percent on your loan less the 3 percent the $50,000 in your offset account is earning). Imagine how much you can save!

Of course, the best sort of offset account pays the same rate as your loan (100 per cent offset).

12. Pay all your mortgage fees and charges up front

Some lenders allow you to add to the amount you borrow instead of coming up with cash for your upfront costs. While this can seem a blessing try to avoid doing this. Consider the following example:

Borrower A borrows $300,000 over 30 years at 6.5 percent. Her upfront costs are $1,000 but she has enough cash to make sure she can cover these. Her total repayment over 30 years will be $682,632

Borrower B takes out the same loan but doesn't have enough cash to cover the upfront costs. So he borrows $301,000, at the same rate. Her total repayment over 30 years will be $684,907.

Two thousand odd-dollars might not sound like a huge amount but what could you buy with it if it stayed in your pocket?

13. Pay your first instalment before it's due

With most new loans, the first instalment may not become due for a month after settlement. If you can manage it (and your lender will let you), pay the first instalment on the settlement date. If you do this, you will be one step ahead of the lender for the term of your loan. Every little bit counts.

14. Shop around and make sure your lender knows it

One of the most powerful tools you can have in the search for the best home loan is information. Make sure you have rung half a dozen lenders and brokers (as well done some internet research) before you start talking to your preferred lender about getting a new loan or refinancing your existing loan.

Make sure you know what rates and features are offered by each of your lender's competitors on comparable products. Be ready to tell the lender what you are looking for and don't be afraid to ask for extras. If they want your business, and know you know what you are talking about, they may be prepared to work that little bit harder to get your business.

Don't be afraid to walk out if you aren't getting the best possible deal you can.

15. Make sure your loan is portable

If there is any chance that you will move house during the course of your loan (and let's face it, there is a strong chance), make sure that your lender will allow you to transfer your loan to a new property and that it won't charge you the earth for the privilege.

Be careful. If you sell up and buy a new house, you could find yourself down thousands in discharge costs on your old loan and establishment fees on your new one.

16. Avoid bridging finance

Someone once said bridging finance is so called because it allows you to ""pylon"" the debt. The joke's appalling, but so is bridging finance. Unless you get your timing right you could find yourself with two home loans at the same time - with the bridging finance element costing you an extra couple of percent premium on the standard variable rate.

Consider using a deposit bond or selling before you buy, as it will be much more cost effective for you than another loan.

17. Choose the loan that suits your needs

Choosing a loan is about knowing what you want. Draw up a table of potential home loans and rank them. Make a list of all the features that are important to you and rank them according to importance. Give each feature a score out of 5 - one for unimportant right through to 5 for indispensable.

Use this technique for ranking the loans on offer and pretty soon you'll see the one that's right for you. Remember, different loans have different purposes so you need to match a loan to your need. Taking out an interest only loan suitable for investors if you are planning to live in the house is just foolish.

Ditching the features you don't need can save you up to 1 per cent on the interest rate of your loan. Over 30 years that's a whole lot of money you've just saved yourself.

18. Don't be afraid of smaller lenders with cheap rates

Since the advent of the mortgage managers over the past five or six years there's been a lot of talk about smaller and ""non-traditional lenders"" and how they have forced interest rates down. With the property boom, plenty of opportunities sprang up for smart lenders with low fees willing to take on traditional lenders and many have done very well indeed.

Some borrowers worry about what might happen if their lender gets into financial trouble. Keep in mind that you've got their money - so don't worry too much. There are some smaller lenders whose names might not be readily familiar but whose rates might be enough reason to get in touch.

Be wary, however. Some of these smaller lenders can have huge hidden fees and charges. It is true that the interest rate might be much lower, but in many cases, they exit (or penalty) fees can be very high if you refinance or pay off your mortgage in the first couple of years. Of course, if you're planning on staying with that lender for some time, then these fees will not impact your pocket at all.

About the author: Kevin Saunders is one of the founders of MortgageLoanHints.com, bringing you tips and hints for paying off your mortgage quickly, helping you to use the power of a mortgage loan to increase your wealth and learn to take control of your own finances. You can see more of Kevin's articles here: http://www.mortgageloanhints.com

Is Your Credit Working Against Your Mortgage Options?

Author: Tony Robinson

Okay, now here's an interesting spin on an already risky product, let's give the bad credit crowd or the low credit score crowd, a chance to make an even worse decision, and finance a home they can't really afford and obviously will have trouble making on-time and dependable payments. Sometimes, the products and situations that you see in the everyday world of researching these loans, is truly amazing and this is one of those classic situations. There are actually mortgage companies that advertise these interest only mortgage options for the consumer with the bad credit or slow credit record.

Now, what I'd like to know is why the mortgage company, in all good faith, would want to take a risk such as this. It's risky financing mortgages for consumers with bad credit, even if you're financing with good solid collateral, and it is well within their means to pay. You take the consumer and the mortgage loan outside those realms of operation, and you're just simply a problem waiting to happen.

Maybe we should have an agency that's known as the ""mortgage police"" and when there's a clear and evident violation of just good sound common sense, a whistle blows; the computer locks up, and now enters the mortgage police. I truly believe the consumer, if not the mortgage company would be a lot better off, especially when the consumer has time to really absorb the basic facts about interest only mortgages, and the mess they can make of your finances; in the case of the bad credit consumer, the further mess they can make of your finances.

With all the government control that regulates the mortgage loan industry, and all the statistics that are published about the consumer with a bad or slow credit rating, who do you suppose thought it would be a good idea to give them an interest only mortgage, that they more than likely will have further trouble paying? You wonder if Alan Greenspan is aware of situations like this, and if he takes it into consideration when raising the prime lending rate? Do you suppose there's a number factor for the ""really going to default on these mortgages"" segment of his equation that determines our prime rate?

Then you have the individual who simply has a low credit score because he has too much credit on revolving charge cards, store cards, etc. How does this affect his or her ability to get a loan? Well, it doesn't necessarily prohibit their ability to secure funding, of course not. What it does accomplish, and this is where the mortgage and lending companies have decided to make a lot of profit, is up the qualifying interest rate. So, if you're credit score is low, you will pay a higher rate of interest. You can still obtain the mortgage, but it will be at several points higher than an individual with an excellent credit score.

As our country spirals ever further into debt, (for if you bother to read any of the headlines lately, you know that we are at the lowest point ever in home mortgage equity. Savings are at a negative balance, and we continue to spend, spend, spend) we do not attempt to encourage a more saving attitude in our consumer advocacy branches of government; we make it easier to spend more. With the passing and implementation of the new bankruptcy laws, I believe we will begin to see even more Americans in trouble with their finances, and offering them more credit, interest only options, and second mortgages does not serve them well.

Let's hope Alan uses more foresight and plain good business sense than our mortgage loan brokers, especially the ones that came up with this genius idea!

About the author: Tony Robinson is a Real Estate Investor, Webmaster and International Author. Visit http://www.ezy-mortgage.com/ for his tips on mortgages.

Mortgage & Refinance Tips: Determining Your Income

Author: Tristan Hunt

When you apply for a refinance, debt consolidation or purchase mortgage, one of the most important factors in qualifying for the loan is your income. That may not seem like much of a surprise, but you may be surprised at all of the different ways your income can be calculated based on how well you can document it, and how much this can affect your loan process. Get a leg up on the loan officer and learn how to determine your income yourself.

Your lender looks at your income on the basis of how well you can document it, and will allow you to borrow more money at lower rates the more you can document your income. If you have been in your job for a while and have years of W2 statements, IRS filings, and bank statements you probably fall into the Full Documentation or ""Full Docs"" basket. Typically you can borrow the most money as a percentage of the property's value with a full doc income verification.

If you are on a salary and you get two checks a month, take the gross amount before taxes on your check and multiply by 2. That's it, that's your income (of course you'll need to present a little bit more documentation to the lender!).

If you get paid once every two weeks you can multiply the gross amount before taxes on your check by 26 (as there are 26 pay periods in a year) and then divide by 12, the number of months in the year.

Hourly employees should multiply their hourly pay by 173 to get their monthly pay, unless of course you earn substantial overtime or commissions.

In the event you earn substantial overtime or commissions/bonuses, you will have to pull out your W2s from the last few years and average them, usually just the past two years are used. So add up all sources of documented income for each year and divide by 24.

Self-employed / 1099 individuals should pull out Schedule C of their last two tax returns, add up the Profit line (which indicates how much money you told the IRS you made) for both years and divide by 24.

If you earn money from rental of a property or any part thereof, you must have a legal rental contract and necessary local approvals to rent the property just to include the rental income at all, and you will only be able to use a portion of this rental income because lenders will assume that there is some risk of vacancy in the future.

If you cannot fully document and verify your income or the bulk of it comes from commissions, bonuses or self-employment you may be able to apply on the basis of ""Stated Income"", where if you have a sufficiently high credit score (in most case 620 or better but in special cases as low as 580) you are allowed to simply state to the lender what your income is. Stated income loan programs generally reduce the amount of money you can borrow in a cash out refinance, debt consolidation or purchase loan, and people who are on a fixed income such as social security or pension are not eligible for stated income programs. There are also a variety of limited document programs and even no document or ""no docs"" mortgage programs available for people with good credit and fixed incomes who need to borrow less than 70% of the value of their property.

About the author: Tristan Hunt is a seasoned financial professional with a wealth of experience in the mortgage industry, advising clients on debt consolidation, refinancing & investor loans . Website: http://www.RefinanceOne.net