Mortgage Refinancing As Debt Relief - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 17:57If you are in serious debt and you own your own home or are paying off a home, mortgage refinancing can help you.
Essentially, mortgage refinancing involves using the equity built up in your home to pay off other high interest debts. Typically the interest rates available on mortgages are lower than unsecured debt thus giving you the possibility of saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars on interest on your debt. It also allows you to combine all existing debt into one monthly payment making it much easier to manage and saving you money on possible late fees etc.
The process of mortgage refinance involves getting a new loan on your existing property and using this loan to pay off your current mortgage and any other debt you may have. Most lending institutions offer mortgage refinancing services.
The benefits of mortgage refinancing may include:
Extending the length of your mortgage thus reducing your monthly repayments leaving you more cash in the hand
Consolidating your credit card and other personal debt into one loan taking advantage of the lower interest rates on mortgages
However, before considering mortgage refinancing as an option for debt relief, you should know the following:
Certain loans or types of loans contain penalty fees for early payment and/or closing of the loan. In some cases, these fees may offset any benefits gained in refinancing that loan. You should enquire about the existence of such fees and calculate whether these fees make the whole process worthwhile for you or not
Whilst extending the length of a mortgage by refinancing allows you to have more cash in the hand each month, the large downside is that you will have to pay much more for the same mortgage in the long run because you are paying more interest. Make sure you take this into account.
Some refinanced loans may expose you to greater risk than you would normally have had with your existing mortgage. It is important to calculate the upfront, ongoing and variable fees that may be incurred in the refinanced mortgage
By entering into a refinance mortgage, keep in mind that you essentially “start again” in your journey to pay off your property. This means that at the beginning you will once again be predominantly paying off interest and not the principal. This means that if you wanted to try to sell the property at some time, you may be surprised at just how much you still owe the bank/lender.
Whilst mortgage refinancing is definitely a possible option to those caught with serious debt problems which has some benefits, there are also downsides to this option. It is important to make sure you consider these downsides before considering mortgage refinancing.
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