Using Home Equity to Consolidate Your Debts – Consider Your Repayment Period Carefully

You have been overspending without realizing it and soon run into a cycle of debts. You know you have to do something about it and get out of this mess. Upon advice from friends and research online, you decided to use your home equity to consolidate your debts.

Before you sign on the dotted line to consolidate your debt, consider your repayment period carefully first. Because your loan overall interest payment is determined both by the interest rate and repayment period. Although you enjoy a lower interest rate on your equity loan, you still might be paying more interest because of longer repayment period.

Take for example: You have credit card debts of $10,000 and need to take up a $10,000 home equity loan.

For simplicity, we'll use 10% loan interest rate.

For a 5 years loan, you will need to pay $212.47 monthly and incurred a total interest payment of $2748.20 when you finish servicing the loan.

For a 10 years loan, you will need to pay 132.15 monthly and incurred a total interest payment of $5858 when you finish servicing the loan.

From the above calculations (are estimates and are not guaranteed for any particular home equity loan), you can see that you will need to pay a much higher interest payment if you take a longer time to service your loan.

A little bit of interest every month can take up to a lot over a long period of time. If you are wise enough, draw out your monthly budget. See how much you can afford to pay back the loan every month.

The formula for saving your money on interest is simple, the shorter the repayment period, the lesser the total interest you incurred. But do take note of the late payment fees, know your limitations, and set a comfortable monthly sum where you know you can meet every month.

Moses Wright is the webmaster of Bulletpedia.com. He provides more helpful information on debt and bill consolidation tips, personal finance credit help and personal finance loan help that you can research in the comfort of your home on his website.

Home Equity News:

Bing: home equity site:msnbc.msn.com
Search results

Home equity loans drying up for some - Business - Personal finance ...
Like many homeowners during the housing boom, Lynnette Madden and her husband decided to open a home equity line of credit about a year and a half ago as ...
Americans' home equity near a record low - Business - Real estate ...
WASHINGTON ? Falling U.S. home prices have shrunk equity so much that the proportion of their homes that Americans actually own is near its lowest point ...
Home equity lines have dried up across U.S. - Business - Personal ...
Home equity lines have dried up across U.S. As home prices collapse, banks cut off credit, further souring the economy Below:
Late payments for home equity loans rise - Business - Real estate ...
WASHINGTON ? Late payments on home equity loans climbed to a 1½-year high in the opening quarter of this year, while delinquencies on credit card bills ...
Retirees no longer count on home equity - Business - Personal ...
Many Americans have recently found themselves changing retirement plans after losing a substantial amount of home equity as the housing market and the ...
Equity in Americans? homes falls to historic low - Business ...
NEW YORK ? The equity Americans have in their most important asset ? their homes ? has dropped to its lowest level since the end of World War II ...
Students get creative to pay off loans - Business - Personal ...
Lines of credit typically work like a credit card, with a limit and a revolving balance: the average home-equity line of credit currently has an interest rate ...
Use of home equity hits a four-year low - Business - Real estate ...
Use of home equity hits a four-year low Freddie Mac report cites falling residence values, stricter lending standards Below:
Ford, Toyota are pinning their hopes on China - Business - Autos ...
NEW YORK ? Ford Motor Co. plans to build a new assembly plant in China ... $30K home equity loan FICO: 5.75%
Cities sue, invest to stop foreclosures - Business - Real estate ...
These stem from lost tax revenue and jobs as well as slower consumer spending that come with home equity declines, and don?t even include the financial toll ...

Newsfeed display by CaRP