Save Money with a Remortgage

Written by David Miles


Low interest rates, coupled with increased competition inrepparttar UK mortgage market over recent years means that there has never been a better time to review your existing mortgage arrangements.

To put it simply, there is a good chance you could save money by remortgaging.

What is a remortgage?

Remortgaging means switching to a different mortgage deal. This could be with your existing mortgage lender, but more often than not it will be with a different bank or building society.

In times gone by, many people never bothered to remortgage, but it looks like that situation has begun to change inrepparttar 112248 past couple of years.

According torepparttar 112249 Council of Mortgage Lenders, in January 2003 (forrepparttar 112250 first time ever) remortgages accounted for more than 50% ofrepparttar 112251 total monies advanced by mortgage lenders.

Save money

One ofrepparttar 112252 most common reasons for remortgaging is to reduce costs. By switching to a lower interest rate you can either benefit from lower monthly repayments, or keeprepparttar 112253 monthly repaymentsrepparttar 112254 same, thus repayingrepparttar 112255 loan quicker and reducingrepparttar 112256 overall term ofrepparttar 112257 mortgage.

Raising equity

Another reason to remortgage is in order to raise additional cash.

Due torepparttar 112258 rapid rise in UK property values overrepparttar 112259 past few years, many people now have mortgages which are well below their home's current value. The difference betweenrepparttar 112260 property value andrepparttar 112261 mortgage debt is known as equity. The majority of mortgage lenders will allow you to increaserepparttar 112262 size ofrepparttar 112263 mortgage in order to tap into some of this equity. The cash raised can be used for a variety of purposes, such as home improvements, holidays, a new car, orrepparttar 112264 consolidation of existing debts.

Mortgage Cycling – Brilliant or Risky

Written by George Burks


With mortgage rates hovering around 20-year lows, competition inrepparttar mortgage industry is fierce. It seems like every day a new mortgage loan strategy comes out that is suppose to berepparttar 112247 best thing since sliced bread. Whether it's a mortgage with no closing costs or an interest only mortgage, everyone is claiming they can save you a ton of money. Now someone has come out with something called Mortgage Cycling. Mortgage Cycling could save you thousands of dollars or it could cost you your home.

Mortgage cycling is a program that advertises itself as a method to payoff your mortgage in 10 years or less without making biweekly mortgage payments or changing your current mortgage. Does mortgage cycling work as advertised? The answer is unequivocally yes – with a few caveats. I'm going to let you in onrepparttar 112248 secret to mortgage cycling.

Mortgage cycling is based on making huge lump sum principal payments every 6-10 months. What this means is mortgage cycling works well for those who have at least a few hundred dollars in extra cash atrepparttar 112249 end of each month. The problem is most people don't have that kind of cash available.

For most people, Mortgage Cycling relies on using a Home Equity Line of Credit to make huge lump sum payments against their original mortgage principal balance. When you take out a home equity line of credit, you pay for many ofrepparttar 112250 same expenses as when you financed your original mortgage such as an application fee, title search, appraisal, attorney fees, and points. You also may find most loans have large one-time upfront fees, others have closing costs, and some have continuing costs, such as annual fees. Home Equity Line of Credit interest rates are also higher than a typical mortgage loan interest rate.

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