Sunday, 31 July 2011

Debt Consolidation Mortgage: Second Mortgage or Unsecured Loan?

By John Roney


If you have gotten yourself into a position where you are unable to pay off your debts, then you are not alone. It's hard to keep a good overview of all your spending these days. Too many people have taken out too many loans. As a result, you accidentally took out more loans than you could afford and now you're having trouble paying the bills.

It's possible that you have damaged your credit score by not paying your monthly bills in time. When you've got bad credit, taking out loans becomes even more expensive. It's weird how that works, but that's just the reality of the situation. So what are you going to do to save a few bucks now that you've gotten yourself in this situation? If you are a home owner and you have equity built up in your house, then you can save yourself some money through refinancing.

Mortgage Loan Refinance And Debt Consolidation Mortgage, When you are refinancing your home, you are essentially taking out another loan to pay off your original mortgage loan. This might seem counter intuitive, but it can actually save you money. Provided that you do this refinancing when interest rates are lower than they were when you first financed your home, you instantly shave off thousands of dollars from your total mortgage debt.

Unsecured Loan- An unsecured loan is a lump sum payout that is repaid at a fixed rate of interest in equal payments over a short period of time, typically 5 years or less. Unlike a second mortgage, collateral is not necessary to secure the loan. Loan amounts are relatively small, usually less than $15,000. Interest rates on unsecured loans, which are sometimes called signature or personal loans, are determined by whether you are considered a good credit risk. In other words, the higher the credit score, the lower the interest rate will be and vice versa. A bad credit score will earn you a higher interest rate, sometimes the same or higher than the credit card interest you are paying. This is compounded by the fact that an unsecured loan is considered a higher risk (no collateral), and lenders may charge interest rates that are often quite high, generally higher than the interest rate on a second mortgage would be, but usually less than that 18%-plus interest credit card debt you are trying to pay off.

Unsecured loans have a couple of advantages over second mortgages in that approval process is much quicker and there are no additional costs involved. Because the loan period is shorter and the interest rates are higher, monthly payments are also higher. Nor is the interest is not tax deductible. However, if you default on the loan, it may damage your credit but you won't lose your home.




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