Monday, January 4, 2010

Why You Need to Compare Home Equity Loans Cost

By Lanre Ejihmon

Also known as HEL, home equity loans, represent a type of loan that allows a borrower to use the home equity as a collateral. People file for home this kind of lending variant when they have to pay for college tuition fees, house repairs, medical bills or some emergency situations. By home equity loans, the actual home equity is reduced and a lien is generated against the house in question.

People with a bad credit history will most certainly have difficulties in getting home equity loans, not to mention the fact that the loan-to-value ratios have to be adequate. There are two types of home equity loans, some with closed end and some with open end; yet, the terminology refers to both of them as secondary mortgages because the property makes the security or guarantee of the borrowed value. Let's see what the two variants of home equity loan involve.

With closed end home equity loans, the borrower gets a certain sum of money and is forbidden from borrowing anything further. The amount in itself is determined by the value of the collateral, the income, the credit history and other personal data. While some lenders will provide a 100% amount of the house appraised value, in some states, legislation limits the borrowing up to 80% of the equity.

With closed end home equity loans, you can pay the money back in fifteen years at the maximum; the rates are normally fixed, with the mention that loan re-financing is possible on certain conditions. Open end home equity loans on the other hand are also known as home equity lines of credit. The borrower has the freedom of choosing when and how frequently to borrow money against the value of the property, although there is a limitation to the credit imposed by the lender.

The difference from closed end home equity loans is that with the open end ones the interest rate is variable and the line of credit can be extended up to thirty years. Depending on the lender and the conditions in the financial agreement, the the monthly payment can include only the interest rate for several years in a row. Besides the regular pay-back scheme, do not overlook the importance of some specific fees applied to home equity loans.

The possible fees due for home equity loans include, early pay-off, stamp duties, title fees, originator fees, appraisal fees, closing fees and so on. It is of paramount importance to clarify all the aspects involving the fees, before the signing of the contract, and keep in mind the fact that there is no loan without some sort of fees applied to it. Moreover, another important issue is that of the tax benefits for people who pay home equity loans; on certain occasions there may be deductibility for your rates. - 30462

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