Life Insurance Settlement

The policy owner is paid a lump sum in cash in exchange for transferring ownership of policy and premium requirements to purchasing funder or company. The amount paid to seller is stated as a percentage of policy’s face amount and is calculated based on specific life expectancy of underlying insured. Each life insurance settlement amount is calculated on a case-by-case basis. The popularity of life insurance settlements is due to fact that if a policy owner was thinking about letting a policy lapse or surrender, they now have opportunity to receive a payout larger than surrender value. “It just doesn’t make sense, that seniors nationwide are letting life insurance policies lapse after paying years of premiums”. “By just exploring option of a life insurance settlement they could be gaining thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars they never knew were available to them,” says Grant Shellhammer of www.LifeSettlementPro.com. Another benefit is that there are no fees or obligations to have a policy evaluated to see if a life insurance settlement is available.

Home Loans and Mortgages – The Selection Can Be Bewildering

For years, when someone wanted to purchase or refinance a home, choices were simple. The buyer chose either a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage or a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage. That was it. Of course, those were also days of twenty percent down payments, which seriously hindered ability of many Americans to obtain loan necessary to buy their own home. In recent years, more flexible loan types have become available and down payment requirements have been relaxed. There are now far more choices of loan types available for borrower than ever before. That can be a mixed blessing, however, as prospective borrowers now have to do a tremendous amount of homework in order to determine which type of loan might be best choice. The selection of loan types that are currently available can be quite bewildering, and wrong choice could cost prospective borrower thousands of dollars over term of loan.

The standard 15-year and 30-year mortgages are still quite popular. Each provides stability of a fixed interest rate and a payment that will remain same throughout duration of life of mortgage. When interest rates are near historic lows, as they are today, these traditional choices work well for most buyers. Buyers who find a 15-year or 30-year mortgage to be within their means would probably benefit from obtaining such a mortgage now.

In recent years, as home prices have increased faster than wages, lending industry has created more flexible types of mortgages designed to help buyers who may have trouble with traditional loans obtain financing. These types of loans tend to have adjustable interest rates:

The Adjustable Rate Mortgage, or ARM, has a rate that adjusts over time as spelled out in mortgage agreement. Typically, rate at time of singing loan is lower than that of a traditional mortgage, perhaps by one percent or so. The difference is that rate can adjust over time as market changes. The loan agreement will spell out how often rate may change and how much rate may change at one time. The agreement may also indicate a maximum interest rate that may be charged over life of loan. These types of loans are ideal for buyers who do not intend to stay in their home for more than a few years, or buyers who are purchasing in times of high interest rates, when there is an expectation that rates will drop over time.