Home Equity Loans (Second Mortgages)
Home equity loans or second mortgages are based on the remaining equity on your home. Basically, equity is the difference between the home value of your property and the outstanding debt guaranteed by that property. Home equity loans use this equity as collateral to guarantee the loan just like home loans use the property as collateral. This implies that the risk involved for the lender is reduced due to the guarantee and thus, the interest rate charged is low. These loans along with home loans are probably the lowest rate loans of the private financial market. This in turn, implies also low monthly payments which are perfect for financing home improvements so you don’t have to pay high lump sums every month. Also, since these loans are guaranteed, the lender is willing to offer higher loan amounts. However, the loan amount will be limited by the equity left on your home. Higher loan amounts are also very useful for home improvements because generally, home improvements are rather expensive and an important amount of funds are needed to undertake home improvement projects.
An Alternative: Home Equity Lines of Credit for Home Improvements
These lines of credit are revolving sources of funds that are also guaranteed with your home equity. Instead of a fixed loan amount, what you are offered when requesting a home equity line of credit, is a flexible source of funds with certain credit limit. Up to this limit you can request as much money as you need and repay it the way you want. Generally, the minimum payment is the interests charged for the money you withdraw. Once you repay the principal, you can withdraw it again as many times as you want as long as you don’t exceed the credit limit. This tool provides a lot of flexibility that comes in very handy when making home improvements that have costs that you can’t always predict and thus having a fixed amount can seriously limit your project. The main difference as regards the terms of home equity loans and lines of credit is that home equity lines of credit always carry a variable interest rate that is altered every three months according to market conditions, while home equity loans can carry either a variable rate or a fixed interest rate that will remain the same all through the life of the loan.
Amanda Hash is an expert financial consultant who specializes in helping people to recover their credit and get approved for home loans, car loans, personal unsecured loans, unsecured credit cards, refinance home loans, consolidation loans, student loans and other financial products.
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