Friday, August 17, 2007

How to Avoid Mortgage Foreclosure Scam

Are you facing problems with mortgage payments? Is your house slipping away from your hands? According to the data from RealtyTrac, more than one million homeowners have faced foreclosure this year, 27% more than this time last year. The following basic tips will help you to avoid mortgage foreclosure scam before it happens:

* - Do not ignore your problem.
* - Before making any decision of mortgaging your property you must know the mortgage rights.
* - Be on guard by reviewing your finances and see where you can cut your spending to be able to make your mortgage payments regularly.
* - Pay your mortgage debts before any other household expenditure or credit cards' payments or unsecured debts.
* - When you are not able to pay your mortgage payments use your assets. You can sell your car, jewelry or a whole life insurance policy to help you reinstate your loan.
* - Preserve your good credit. As your future ability to purchase item, property or rent requires a credit check. Keeping your credit rating from getting blemishes is very important.

Besides the above-mentioned basic tips the Federal Housing Administration, US Department of Housing and Urban Development have recently framed out the following guidelines:

Immediately contact a house-counseling agency if you are not comfortable to talk with your lender. Most FHA counselors are free of cost or cost very little. A counselor can help you review your financial situation, learn which workout arrangement is suitable for your family, protects you from future credit problems, provides you information on services and programs available in your area. Determine the ideal options available and negotiate with your lender.

Contact your lender as soon as possible. A lender will help you prepare a budget plan to ensure that you meet your monthly payments and see that you follow it strictly. This plan will show how much money is available to meet your mortgage payments. Do not hide any form of information from your lender. Make sure you read all the mails and letters send to you.

FHA loans also provide alternatives and ways for borrowers to get help. These loans include mortgage modifications, special forbearances allowances, and other actions you can take to avoid foreclosure. Your lender has to follow FHA servicing guideline and regulation when it comes to dealing with FHA loans. You can report to the FHA's National servicing Center if the lender is not responsive.

Explore loan workout solutions with your lender when your problem is temporary. If it appears that your situation is long-term or will permanently affect your ability to bring your account current, if keeping your home is not an option, your lender will be willing to discuss and make arrangements to bring your loan current.

A forbearance option is often combined with a reinstatement when you know you will have enough money to pay, to bring the account current at a given date. The money may be from a hiring bonus, investment, insurance settlement, or tax refund. You can also make an agreement to pay the portion of the past dues plus your regular monthly payment each month until you are caught up.

One should be very careful with predatory lending schemes, as there are many frauds that will try to deceive you. Borrowers facing unemployment and or foreclosure are targets of predatory lenders because here the borrowers are desperate to find any solution.

Martin Lukac represents RateEmpire.com mortgage rate quotes financial marketplace which connects consumers with companies that compete for their business. RateEmpire.com is a destination site of real estate information, personal finance, investing, taxes and mortgage rates. For more information about your debt visit How to avoid Mortgage Foreclosure Scam


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Is An Interest Only Mortgage Really Helpful For Your Needs

The interest only mortgage is the idea of paying only the interest rate for the mortgage. When you are strapped for finances due to your job, and you can't really pay for the interest and principal amount, you might want to consider this option first. Since you are paying only the interest of the mortgage, you can save yourself some money from possible problems altogether. You are already taking care of the interest but leaving the principal amount alone.

This option is good for those who want to have a home but are unable to do so because of their financial situation. For example, you can opt for this type of mortgage if you already have a job but you are still studying for post graduate courses. Since you can not pay for the tuition and mortgage altogether, you can pay only the interest of the mortgage and the tuition of your school with your job, and this will allow you to finish school at the same time. You're confident that someday you can pay for this because the result of the postgraduate courses means you'll have better opportunities and higher paying jobs. After you've landed a job after your graduation, you can start paying not only the mortgage, but the principal amount as well.

The idea that something will come along is really risky. You can not really project that you will earn more money in the future. You might consider an inheritance as your guarantee but it's still a risk. After all, interest only mortgages will still require you to pay for the principal amount on the required repayment date. If you can't make it, the bank or mortgage firm will still get your house even if you pay them with the interest for many, many years.

So when you are paying interest only mortgages, start saving some money to pay for the principal amount. Even though you may only be earning a small amount, for sure there's always something that you can save so that you can pay a little each month. Chipping the principal amount slowly is better than nothing at all. As soon as you have the money to pay at least the monthly requirement of your lending company, give it to them. This could be a smart move as you only pay when you have the money. The fact that you are still paying your interest only mortgage guarantees that you are still interested in paying the mortgage in the right time before its payment term ends.

On the other hand, mortgage only payments is an ideal type of mortgage if you are interested in a house but you can't really stay there forever. The mortgage would only be some sort of rent to your home. As soon as you need to transfer, you can sell your house to pay for the property. You really don't get anything in this transaction except if the market value of your house really goes up.

Interest only mortgages are a great idea but too risky if you are interested in purchasing the home by the agreed repayment date. Always think twice before you go with this transaction payment plan.

Imran is writer and webmaster for http://www.1mortgagesuk.co.uk For more information on interest only mortgages or any other type of mortgage information and enquiry, please visit us.


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Five Ways to Pay Your Mortgage Off Earlier

For millions of homeowners the dream of being mortgage free seems a long way off. With so many other living costs to meet making extra payments on your mortgage can be difficult. That said the benefits can be huge, paying an extra £100 per month off a £100,000 mortgage could help take 6 years of a 25 year mortgage and save you around £25,000 in interest repayments.

The main point to remember is that any over payments made on your mortgage go to immediately reducing your outstanding capital meaning your monthly interest payments are also reduced as you have less debt.

The following ideas can be used to help you pay off your mortgage more quickly;

• Switch to a lower rate mortgage, this sounds simple enough yet many people are still paying the banks standard variable rate on their mortgage. By switching to a lower rate mortgage, be it fixed or tracker, you can make a potential saving of £100 per month which can be saved up and used to pay off a substantial amount of capital outside of any redemption period, or straight away if your mortgage lender allows penalty free overpayments.

• Avoid high mortgage fees; many mortgage lenders now make their profits by charging fees for their products, these can include arrangement fees, booking fees and valuation fees. Together these fees can add up to significant amount. Any savings you make in this area can be used to repay more capital, again reducing your outstanding debt and interest repayments

• Get a flexible mortgage; over the last few years flexible mortgages have become more popular as they allow the borrower to make penalty free overpayments to reduce their outstanding capital. The level of flexibility varies from a percentage of the outstanding debt right up to fully flexible where you can pay off as much as you like without penalty, expect to be charged a higher interest rate for a fully flexible mortgage. The level of flexibility you need will depend on the amount you can realistically afford to pay each month. When looking for a flexible mortgage search on a web comparison service can help you compare mortgages more quickly and identify those that offer flexible features and competitive rates.

• Switch to an offset mortgage; this option is suitable for those who have savings that are relatively large compared to their mortgage. Offset mortgages work by freezing interest on the portion of your mortgage that matches the amount held in your savings account. In return for freezing this interest you do not receive credit interest on your savings balance. If you have a large amount saved up buy don’t want to spend it this option may be for you. Offset mortgages do not generally carry flexible features so put any savings into an interest bearing account and use them to pay off a lump some outside of any redemption period.

• Make savings in other areas; simply put, make savings anywhere you can including insurance, travel and your general cost of living. By combining these savings with a flexible mortgage you have the potential to take years off your mortgage and save thousands in interest payments. A good place to start is the forums at moneysavingexpert.com, they are full of money saving ideas that can help you find extra money to pay off your mortgage.

Whatever combination of mortgage repayment tips you use always make use of the internet to compare UK mortgages With literally thousands of products out there an online search can speed up the process remarkably and help you narrow down your choices before contacting an independent financial advisor.


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Mortgage Refinancing - Facts And Guidelines

If you take a loan without examining all the available options and offers from different lending institutions, the new loan might cost you much more than you expected. Therefore, in order to save thousand of dollars, go through the following tips and guidelines carefully.

A significant decrement of interest rates in the early 21st century was one of the major factors that led to a growing number of refinancing applications. This boom in the number of borrowers who are interested in refinancing their existing mortgage loan still continues.

Following are the reasons why most of the borrowers have started to consider this option seriously.

• Savings that new loan could bring you could be significant. In case the current interest rates are lower than the rate on the existing loan, the savings brought to you by the new loan could be very significant.

• Besides, savings that the new loan could bring you prove to be significant also when your adjustable rate mortgage is set to adjust upwards soon.

• By applying for the refinancing process, some fresh cash can be obtained from equity build in home and this can be then used for all the major expenses like children education, renovation of the house, etc.

To conclude, there are a number of reasons for cash-out refinancing. However, before signing a new mortgage contracts, it is advisable to carefully examine the pros and cons of mortgage refinancing.

In order to make accurate calculations and for arriving at the right decision, you are required to compare you have to compare the savings that new term will produce with the entire loan related fees and possible prepayment penalty on your current mortgage.

That is, you should have a fair idea of the amount of money that will remain in your pocket after cash-out refinancing and the amount that you will have to pay as fees or as a prepayment penalty.


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Mortgage Funding - Basic Facts And Solutions

In the present scenario, familiarity of mortgage finance is widespread. More and more people opt to buy new homes through mortgage finance or loans.

However, in the last few years, there have been some alterations in mortgage financing to make it more beneficial for people. The various options made available to the home owners in mortgage funding are enormous and help the home owners to take a fine decision.

Mortgage finance products are offered by many focused mortgage finance institutions.

Loan mortgage finance organizations and other reserves are rightly referred to as ‘frugality links’. This is because lenders take the deposits of their clients and the capital obtained in this way is utilized to generate mortgage finance and loan products.

However, these thrifts were soon replaced by ‘mortgage finance bankers’. The mortgage finance product invented by the mortgage finance bankers was then offered to the investors.

Thus, the mortgage brokers became the mediators between the investors and the clients. As these mortgage brokers deal with the top investors and receive good feedback from their clients, they are always preferred.

In order to decide on the funding, you can find out all the necessary details on the Internet.

Today, anyone can go for this loan. If you have a good credit, you can opt for a loan that encloses the total buying cost of the home.

Even people with a bad credit are entitled to get this loan but the only difference is that high interest rates have to be taken into consideration. Moreover, buyers with no good credit rating can also avail this loan.

Loan sanctioning has been made even more easily available for clients by providing options of online approvals and sanctioning. Besides, credit scores make the tough loan sanctioning work easier.

In order to find the solutions of problems due to refinancing, lenders have started to provide loans without discount points.


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Second Mortgage - Advantages And Disadvantages

Are you troubled due to the high interest rate of your mortgage loan? Well, you can easily reduce the interest rate of your mortgage deal by opting for remortgage loans. Remortgage loan can be availed by renegotiating the terms and condition of your current mortgage.

Remortgage loans are the best way to lower the interest arte of your mortgage legally. Also you can increase the repayment duration of the remortgage to lower the monthly installments. You can either strike a remortgage deal with your current lender or you can also choose to opt for a new lender but it is suggested to try to negotiate with your current lender as this will save you from paying extra money.

With cheapest remortgage UK you can lower the interest rate on your current mortgage to a great extent and hence save a lot money in the process. Also you can opt for longer period of repayment to make your monthly installments smaller. You can use the money saved for your other basic needs like paying school bills of your children, vacation, renovation of home etc.

Cheapest remortgage UK are also very beneficial for people suffering from multiple debts. If you are unable to mange and pay off your multiple debts you can opt for cheapest remortgage UK. With the help of cheapest remortgage UK you can merge all your existing debts into a single manageable debt with lower interest rate and with flexible repayment duration. This way you will have to pay only one monthly installment and that too small amount. Also you will have to take care of only one lender instead of many.

To avail cheapest remortgage UK you will have to make an extensive search of the lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK. There are many lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK but to get the best deal you will have to negotiate with them. You can use internet to search for lenders. With few clicks you can download loan quotes of lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK from their website for free. You can get all the details regarding terms and conditions of the lender from the loan quote and then opt for the one that suits your needs the best.

With cheapest remortgage UK you can easily lower the interest rate making it easier to pay and also save money for your immediate needs.

Mathew Kenny is offering loan and financial advice for quite a long time. He is working as the senior financial consultant with Easy Remortgage UK. To find adverse credit remortgage, bad credit remortgage UK, cash back remortgage UK, easy remortgage UK visit http://www.easyremortgageuk.co.uk


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Cheapest Remortgage UK - Renegotiate Your Mortgage Deals

Are you troubled due to the high interest rate of your mortgage loan? Well, you can easily reduce the interest rate of your mortgage deal by opting for remortgage loans. Remortgage loan can be availed by renegotiating the terms and condition of your current mortgage.

Remortgage loans are the best way to lower the interest arte of your mortgage legally. Also you can increase the repayment duration of the remortgage to lower the monthly installments. You can either strike a remortgage deal with your current lender or you can also choose to opt for a new lender but it is suggested to try to negotiate with your current lender as this will save you from paying extra money.

With cheapest remortgage UK you can lower the interest rate on your current mortgage to a great extent and hence save a lot money in the process. Also you can opt for longer period of repayment to make your monthly installments smaller. You can use the money saved for your other basic needs like paying school bills of your children, vacation, renovation of home etc.

Cheapest remortgage UK are also very beneficial for people suffering from multiple debts. If you are unable to mange and pay off your multiple debts you can opt for cheapest remortgage UK. With the help of cheapest remortgage UK you can merge all your existing debts into a single manageable debt with lower interest rate and with flexible repayment duration. This way you will have to pay only one monthly installment and that too small amount. Also you will have to take care of only one lender instead of many.

To avail cheapest remortgage UK you will have to make an extensive search of the lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK. There are many lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK but to get the best deal you will have to negotiate with them. You can use internet to search for lenders. With few clicks you can download loan quotes of lenders offering cheapest remortgage UK from their website for free. You can get all the details regarding terms and conditions of the lender from the loan quote and then opt for the one that suits your needs the best.

With cheapest remortgage UK you can easily lower the interest rate making it easier to pay and also save money for your immediate needs.

Mathew Kenny is offering loan and financial advice for quite a long time. He is working as the senior financial consultant with Easy Remortgage UK. To find adverse credit remortgage, bad credit remortgage UK, cash back remortgage UK, easy remortgage UK visit http://www.easyremortgageuk.co.uk


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Texas Mortgage Loans

Texas mortgage loans are very popular and useful for a variety of purposes. In the form of a debt consolidation loan, a new mortgage can help get homeowners out from under mounting bills. Texas mortgage loans are also a popular way to pay for improvements that increase the livability and market value of homes.

According to the May 2006 Economic Outlook put out by Freddie Mac, “…cash-out (mortgage loans), a major source for home improvement funds, remained at a high level: 88 percent of families who refinanced in the first quarter also converted part of their accumulated home equity into cash or consolidated their mortgage debt.”

Texas mortgage loans are easier to get than other forms of borrowing since the loan is secured by tangible property. They come at lower interest rates than other forms of borrowing such as credit cards or unsecured loans and have some great tax advantages not available on other forms of borrowing.

“If you find yourself in need of a sum of money, whether it's to renovate your home, purchase a new car or consolidate debt, a home equity loan can be a very smart financial tool.” - Everyone’s Money Book

Turning home equity into cash makes more sense than borrowing against the value of your life insurance policy. Such a withdrawal will be deducted from the face value of the policy, thus depriving your beneficiaries. A mortgage loan is smarter than drawing on your retirement funds. If you don’t pay the money back in five years, the IRS will assess taxes and penalties. And a mortgage loan is way better than borrowing from family and friends.

Is a Texas mortgage loan right for you? Why not take a few minutes to complete the express application at USA Equity Loans and get a free loan quote? You are under no obligation to accept the loan, but it will let you know how much you could be pre qualified to borrow with a new mortgage.

Mike Hamel is the author of three business books and several articles about home financing. His material is featured on sites like http://www.usaequityloans.com


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Applying for a Mortgage Loan - Is Your Information Safe

For approximately the past two years the mortgage industry has provided personal information to other lenders and partners when a consumer applies for a loan. I know this is shocking. I was just as shocked as you are when I found out. As soon as the ink dries on your mortgage application your information is sold to other lenders. In one or two days your phone starts ringing off the hook with calls from other lenders trying to offer you a better deal. This process is called a "trigger lead."

When your credit report is pulled by a mortgage lender or broker the lender's request for your credit report triggers an alert which informs the 3 major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion that you are a potential lead looking to purchase a home or refinance your existing loan.

The credit bureaus sell these trigger leads to lenders and brokers who have subscribed to the service and provide them with a list of potential candidates who are looking for a loan and meet the lenders criteria for a loan.

Experian has a trigger lead service called Prospect Triggers that can pull out all of the consumers from the Experian consumer database that fit a lender's credit criteria such as consumers who have never filed for bankruptcy or consumers who have a certain credit score. Information such as the number of credit cards a consumer possesses and contact information such as applicant name, address and telephone number is provided.

I feel this is a violation of privacy. Companies feel that because you list your personal information on an application they have the right to contact. I rarely get unsolicited phone calls but I recently received a call from a telemarketer and asked the caller why companies feel that they have the right to contact a consumer simply because they have access to a consumer's contact information. I also informed the caller that I only give my phone number to people I wish to speak to which does not include telemarketers and requested that my contact information be removed from their call list and third party call lists.

Many mortgage industry staff believe trigger leads are helpful for lenders and brokers. However, I believe a customer would get a better deal if they shopped around for various offers. When a lender or broker already has some basic information about you they can develop a plan to their advantage and although the deal may sound good it may not be the best deal for you. If you comparison shop you have the upper hand because you can ask specific questions related to the type of loan you are looking and then make a decision about what company you want to do business with without feeling pressured by constant calls from lenders and brokers.

When your credit report is pulled for a lender or broker you can request that they do not enter your telephone number which may reduce telemarketer calls. However, they are phone matching programs available that can be used before the trigger leads are sold. Also as long as they have your SSN they can match up your name, address and phone number.

The sad part about this is the credit bureaus provide trigger leads to lenders and brokers and also provide consumers with opt out services. The credit bureaus make their money upfront by quickly selling your information so by the time you opt out your information has been sold many times over making them rich.

Remember when applying for a loan or filling out any application that requests your personal information immediately ask the following questions:

1. What security measures are in place to protect my personal information?
2. How the company experienced any security threats or attacks and if so how were they handled?
3. What is your privacy policy? Ask for a copy of the privacy policy or how it can be obtained online.
4. I elect to leave the SSN field blank do you have another unique number that can be used to identify me.
5. If I end my business relationship with the company how long is my personal information stored in the company database?
6. What is the method for obtaining my personal records when I end my business relationship with the company?
7. What procedures are in place to protect customer information if the company goes bankruptcy or merges with another company?

To reduce telemarketer calls register your telephone number at www.donotcall.gov or call 1-888-567-8688. Comparison shop on sites like www.bankrate.com. Research a company by calling the Better Business Bureau or Department of Commerce. File a complaint against the company with the Federal Trade Commission or your state Attorney General's Office if you feel the sales tactics used are unprofessional or deceptive.

Harrine Freeman is a speaker, personal finance expert and the author of, "How to Get Out of Debt: Get an "A" Credit Rating for Free Using the System I’ve Used Successfully with Thousands of Clients.

She is the CEO of H.E. Freeman Enterprises, a credit repair and personal finance services company. She is a member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers, SPAWN, Toastmasters, AAUW, National Association of Women Writers, IEEE and the Women Network.

For more information on how to get out of debt or to buy her book please visit http://www.hefreemanenterprises.com She can be reached via email at hfreeman@hefreemanenterprises.com.


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