Many homeowners use the equity in their home to pay down or pay off their revolving credit card debt. This is even more so now that the credit card companies have increased their minimum payment requirements. When considering a refinance to consolidate your higher interest debt such as credit cards you should look at the long term financial benefits. Keep in mind that paying your credit card bills at the minimum monthly payment will take you 20-30 years to completely pay off, assuming you do not add any more debt. The credit card cycle can be never ending which will just drain your bank account of any savings you may have.One of the most popular debt consolidation loans available today is the "No Interest & No Payments for 90 Days" minimum payment option loan, which allows you to take cash out to pay off bills and then allows you to skip your next 3 payments without deferring interest. Paying off your high interest bills will free up a ton of cashflow, and the ability to skip your next 3 (sometimes 4) payments with no penalty means that you can save a huge amount of money in a very short period of time. While a 620 minimum credit score is required to qualify, with the right combination of debt consolidation and credit improvement strategies, your credit score should improve dramatically in as little as 1 year from the date of the refinance, and your accountant might be able to advise you that mortgage interest is deductible from your taxable income, while credit card payments are not.
Even if your nominal mortgage interest rate goes up because you are borrowing more money through a debt consolidation refinance, you should sit down with your loan officer and review how much lower your total monthly spending on bills becomes before and after the debt consolidation refinance. Homeowners with average levels of credit card debt very often save 50% or more on their total monthly payments after refinancing for debt consolidation, and very often can borrow additional cash out of the closing at a much lower interest rate than any new credit card purchases would allow.
Consolidating credit card debt can accomplish many things. First, it can help increase your credit scores by paying off the credit card debt you are able to show a better ratio of credit card balances compared to your credit card limits. Second, the interest may be tax deductible. Third, this can help to maximize overall cash flow and free up some money for a much needed family vacation, saving for retirement, or paying a child's education expenses. Consult a mortgage professional to find out what loan type is best for you.
When consolidating credit card debts by refinancing your home mortgage, you new debts are now secured by your home. While it is unlikely to be forced into foreclosure if you default on credit card debts, in the event you should default on your mortgage, you can lose your home.
A debt consolidation refinance is considered a cash out refinance. Depending on the lender you will have the option have taking the cash from escrow and paying yourself, or having escrow paying the debts off for you. If you choose to have escrow pay them, you will need to provide current payoff statements and addresses to send the check.
Choosing the right type of loan for your debt consolidation refinance will take the help of a mortgage broker. The mortgage broker is experienced with helping customers obtain the best loan programs to achieve your desired goals. With the many options that are available, you will want to be sure you are being given all possible solutions to your debt consolidation refinance. You will need to go over all of your financial goals, both current and future with your broker. With the information you give to the broker, they will be able to pinpoint some good programs which will help you reach those goals. Be sure to look at each option and analyze which one works best for your personal needs and comfort levels. Not all loans are created equally, so be sure you understand all the loan programs your broker is offering you.
When considering a debt consolidation refinance you should look at how doing this will benefit you financially over the long term. Asking yourself some simple questions like:
Am I consistently making larger payments on my credit cards to reduce the balance?
Am I at the limits of my credit cards?
How long would it take for me to pay off these cards at my current payment structure?
Am I gaining any benefit from these interest rates on my credit cards?
What is my current housing payment and debt payment combined?
Once you have answers to these simple questions you should be able to have a pretty good idea at how a debt consolidation refinance will help you financially, not only now but also your long term financial outlook.
Remember that as is the case with most refinances, you will be able to skip a month or two month's mortgage payments. This is extra money that you can put towards consolidating debt, if you did not have enough equity to do a total debt consolidation.
Be careful not to squander your home equity. Sadly, in many cases a family will take cash out of their home equity to pay off high interest rate credit card debt but only a few months later have the credit cards charged up again. In this instance you have traded unsecured credit card debt into a secured debt the lender can and will repossess: your home!
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