Be Prepared With Your Home Equity Loan Checklist?Written by Tim Gorman
A home equity loan can be an excellent way to obtain money in order to pay off high interest bills or consolidate your current debt into one monthly payment. A home equity line of credit is a form of revolving credit in which your home serves as collateral. Because home is likely to be a consumer's largest asset, many homeowners use their credit lines only for major items such as education, home improvements, or medical bills and not for day-to-day expenses. Additional benefits include a nice tax advantage and possibility of an overall lower monthly payment. However before you decide that a home equity loan is right for you make sure you do your homework. Not all online lenders of home equity loans are same which means there are ample opportunities to save a few more of your hard earned dollars.The biggest obstacle to overcome is deciding on appropriate online loan lender. Make wrong choice here and it could come back to haunt you in form of higher payments. I have compiled a small list of items to check for when searching for best online loan lender. One item to be on look out for is annual percentage rate or (APR) as it’s commonly known. This is cost of credit on a yearly basis expressed as a percentage. This cost is based on interest rate alone and will not take into effect other fees and charges such as closing costs. Most home equity loans or lines of credit revolve around variable interest rates. In many cases lenders entice consumers with an offer to temporarily discount interest rate for home equity lines. This rate is unusually low and may last for only an introductory period, such as 6 months. Typical information that a loan officer will ask you to provide include a checklist for "Full Document" loan approvals, 1 month of pay stubs from your employer, previous 2 years worth of W2 forms, a mortgage coupon or copy of your monthly mortgage statement, your homeowners insurance policy information, mortgage note on your current mortgage, your drivers license and social security card. Having these items handy will help speed up loan approval process.
| | Homeowners Insurance Policies Explained.Written by Tim Gorman
Shopping for home insurance can be a real pain if you don’t know what you’re looking for and it can also end up costing you more money then it should. For starters you need to make sure you purchase right insurance coverage for you particular situation. Making sure you have correct protection to adequately cover your needs is important. Don’t forget about special provisions for high-dollar items such as jewelry, your computer equipment and other possessions. Do you live in an earthquake region or flood zone? If so you might also need additional home insurance coverage for those special circumstances. Moneylenders such as banks or online loan lenders usually require mortgage customers to purchase homeowners insurance. Don’t rely on coverage levels mandated by your bank or mortgage company. Those levels are designed to protect house itself, but not necessarily your possessions. You can always trust your insurance agent to inform you what correct coverage is for you. Homeowners Insurance Policies - There are several basic types of home insurance policies: HO-1 - Basic homeowners policy which covers your house and possessions against 11 different perils. HO-2 - Broad homeowners policy which offers coverage on your house and contents against 17 perils, with premiums running about 5 percent to 10 percent more than an HO-1 policy. HO-3 - Special homeowners policy, which covers all perils, except those specifically excluded by policy. Costs 10 percent to 15 percent more than an HO-1 policy. HO-4 - Renters policy, which is of course for renters and covers 17 named perils and includes liability coverage. It does not insure dwelling itself. HO-5 - Extensive homeowners policy, which covers damage from practically everything except earthquakes, wars and floods.
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