Can you afford to make mortgage payments bi-monthly? Some mortgage companies give you option of making your mortgage payments either once a month or splitting it in half and paying it bi-monthly. By paying bi-monthly, you lower total amount of interest paid on your loan and decrease time to pay off your mortgage. A mortgage of 30 years may be shortened by quite a few years if you pay your mortgage bi-monthly.

How is your credit? Many times people believe that having bad credit will make it impossible for them to obtain a mortgage. This is not true. There are lenders that specialize in developing mortgage programs for people with poor credit. Initially, you may pay a higher interest rate then someone with good credit, but over time, if you make regular payments and slowly improve your credit, your mortgage rate may be lowered.

The process of obtaining a mortgage can be simplified if you know what you are looking for. So good luck shopping!

Ashlee Hovsepian is the successful publisher of http://www.anything-loans.com where you can find the right mortgage companies to finance your mortgage.

In addition to providing critical illness protection for yourself and your partner, it also makes sense to add on cover for your children if you have any. Unfortunately, serious illness amongst children is more common than you might like to think. Historical claims records show that a substantial number of claims are made on children's critical illness insurance, mostly for leukaemia.

You might assume that if one of your children suffered a critical illness, your household finances would be unaffected. After all, they are not wage earners. However, in reality you may want, or need, to give up your full time employment to look after your child. In addition, their illness may give rise to additional costs for medical treatment or nursing care. Money is last thing you want to be worrying about if one of your children is taken seriously ill.

A large number of critical illness insurers automatically provide cover for children, so it is worth checking this aspect of policy when deciding which critical illness provider to opt for.

One of most important things to be aware of when choosing a critical illness protection plan is list of illnesses and conditions covered by policy, as this varies from one insurance provider to another.

All providers cover a certain range of core conditions, such as cancer, stroke, heart attack, and multiple sclerosis. Other companies may provide cover for additional conditions such as loss of sight, loss of limb, or benign tumours. Statistics show, however, that majority of claims are for one of core conditions, which every insurer has to cover.

Critical illness insurance can be bought with either guaranteed rate premiums or reviewable rate premiums. The former are normally more expensive, but premiums are guaranteed to remain same throughout life of policy. With reviewable rates, premiums are not guaranteed and so you may have to pay more or less per month (almost certainly more!) as years go by.

Critical illness policies stay in force for a fixed period. The period of cover you select is known as term. A short-term policy might run for perhaps ten years. Or you might want a longer term policy of twenty-five years to coincide with your mortgage. It is important to remember that your cover will end completely as soon as term is finished.

The other two things which will cause your policy to terminate are if you die or if you make a critical illness claim. Once you have claimed for a serious illness, it can be difficult to get new cover, as you are seen by insurers as a higher risk. Some companies offer a critical illness buy-back option, meaning that if you do claim on your critical illness policy you can still take out cover again with that same insurer. A buy-back facility will increase your monthly premiums, but for sake of what may only be a few pounds per month, it is well worth considering from outset.

As you will see from everything we have said here, critical illness policies can differ in price and provide differing levels of cover and benefits. In addition, some policies cover just critical illnesses, whilst others combine critical illness protection with traditional life assurance.

It is therefore important to take expert independent financial advice before deciding which critical illness policy is right for you.

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Copyright 2004 David Miles. You are welcome to reproduce this article on your website, so long as it is published "as is" (unedited) and with author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. In addition, all links to external websites must be left in place.