HELOC Is One Option To Be Wary Of
January 16th, 2010 by Adriana Noton | No Comments | Filed in financeA HELOC is one way you can take out a loan. But you need to be wary of taking one out because your house is used as collateral for the loan. If you have a large purchase to make however this might be the way you can go. A large purchase like funding your kid\’s college tuition is not likely going to be covered by your credit card. But you also have to remember that you will be tied in to the current mortgage rates.
It is a loan based on the amount of equity you have in your home. Equity is the difference between what your house will sell for on the open real estate market and the dollar amount that you owe the lender who holds the note on your property. You will have to report your income in the application process and your credit score will factor in on the rate of interest you will be charged.
This is the amount you will apply for with a home equity loan. The collateral of course is your property. Keep in mind of the mortgage rates – if you fail to make the payments then the land will be foreclosed on. The first lender will get paid first and then the people who hold the note on the home equity loan.
The home equity deal works as a line of credit does. You only pay what you take out on the loan. You do not have to take the full amount of the loan out at any time.
The interest rate you pay will be based on the prime market value at the time. This rate may be different than the current GIC rates, but it will be a variable interest rate. So you are taking a risk that the interest rates will stay low but they might shoot up also. One advantage this type of loan has over the basic credit card is that you can write off the interest on your income tax.
There was a time you could write off interest paid on credit cards. But this is no longer the case so this is one advantage with this type of loan.
You want to before you take out such a loan make sure you are stable in your job. You do not want to lose your job and then your house because you could not make the payments on your home equity line of credit. And you also want to have cash reserves if you do lose an income source.
You have to always remember this loan is based on your home equity. And it means you are putting your home on the line. Make sure you are sure you can pay the loan back so you will not lose your home.
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Tags: collateral, default, finance, foreclosure, house, interest, line of credit, loan, money, mortgage, rates
