Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance The Do’s And Don’ts

June 14th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When you’ve taken out a mortgage you’ve make a long-term commitment to maintain the monthly repayments for the full duration of the mortgage. That’s going to be over many years but you’re making that commitment without the benefit of a crystal ball no one knows how your circumstances are going to change, for good or bad. So that must represent a big risk. Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) is one of a range of insurances that includes life insurance and critical illness insurance, which you can reduce that risk and protect your family’s finances.

The purpose of MPPI is to ensure that your mortgage repayments will continue to be paid if you’re off work for an extended period due to accident, sickness or unemployment. Just consider the risks that this type of insurance is designed to alleviate:

Home repossessions run at about 90 per day. Most of these are due to financial problems associated with unemployment.

One third of all people aged between 25 and 34 have experienced unemployment for more than a month.

During the term of their mortgage most people experience at least one period of illness, or the repercussions of an accident, which will keep them off work for more than 3 months.

If you have a standard repayment mortgage, you’re well advised to set the value of monthly MPPI cover to equal the value of your monthly repayment plus your life insurance and home & contents insurance premiums. However, if you have an interest only mortgage, then your cover also needs to include the monthly cost of the investment plan you’re using to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Also remember that if your mortgage repayments subsequently change due to interest rate movement, then you need to contact your insurer and get the policy similarly modified. Oh yes, the nice bit if you claim then the income payout is totally tax-free!

11 Top Tips for buying

Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance

Don’t think that you can only take out MPPI when you arrange the mortgage. You can take out MPPI at any time.

Be aware that some mortgage lenders will try to pressurise you into taking out MPPI along with your mortgage. If this happens, make sure you find out how much extra the cover will cost each month and then get on the Internet and get a few competitive quotes. Most people will find savings of up to 60%!

Mortgage lenders will only quote you for the cover needed to meet your monthly mortgage repayments. Remember our advice to include cover for the cost of your mortgage life insurance, your home & contents insurance and the cost of any investment plan you have allocated to repay your mortgage (the latter item applies only to interest only mortgages).

If your employment is seasonal or casual you won’t be able to claim on an MPPI policy. Every policy has what are called exclusions and seasonal and casual work is just a typical one. Exclusions are the circumstances under which you cannot make a claim. Always read these exclusions before you take out the policy and if you can see that your circumstances mean that you’re unlikely to be able to make a valid claim, don’t buy the policy. In some cases, the policy exclusions will eliminate 50% of potential claims.

Don’t automatically opt for the cheapest MPPI policy. The conditions under which policies pay out do vary so check them out carefully. Premiums are always a reflection of the extent of the exclusions in the policy, the level of cover provided and the insurers general marketing strategy.

Don’t get confused by the different names given to MPPI. It can also be described as Accident Sickness and Unemployment Insurance, Payment Cover and Payment Care. Basically, they all do the same but remember to check out the exclusions!

Most policies state that you have to be off work for a minimum period of time before you can make a claim. The maximum period you’ll find is 60 days but many policies reduce this to 30 days – and some will then backdate the payment to the first day you were off work. You’ll find full details about these aspects in the policy’s Terms and Conditions. Always check these out before you buy and remember when you’re comparing prices, to compare like with like.

Don’t confuse MPPI with Mortgage Indemnity Insurance (MIG). Mortgage Indemnity Insurance p rovides cover for a mortgage lender for any losses the lender might suffer as a result of a property on which they provided a loan being sold for less than the amount of the loan. Any payout under a MIG policy goes to the lender, not you!

If you already have Permanent Health Insurance your may not need MPPI. Check out the terms of you PHI policy.

Be aware that there is a level of duplication between Critical Illness Insurance and MPPI. MPPI will pay you an income during the insured period for any illness that prevents you from working. Critical illness Insurance will payout a lump sum if you are diagnosed with any of the chronic illnesses listed on the critical illness policy. So if you have a critical illness claim, then you will almost certainly also have a claim on your MPPI policy. However, if the illness that’s keeping you off work is not listed on the chronic list, and all ordinary illness aren’t, then only your MPPI policy will payout.

Shop around. As with most types of insurance, the Internet is the cheapest place to shop and many sites will enable you to arrange cover immediately online. Try searching under mortgage payment protection insurance rather than just mortgage protection. That search term is totally specific and you’re bound to find what you want.

Posted in:
Mortgages

Interest-Only Or 50 Year Mortgages – Do They Really Make

March 1st, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interest-Only Or 50 Year Mortgages – Do They Really Make Sense?

With hotspots like Las Vegas, much of California and Florida still enjoying a good real estate market, many banks and mortgage companies are now spreading out payments over 50 years to make them more affordable. Prior to these 50-year mortgages, interest-only mortgages were promoted and sold as the way to go. The real question here is which is better?

Lets first digress on what an interest-only mortgage is. Interest-only home loans or mortgages arent as a general rule permanently interest-only. The bank or mortgage company will normally offer the borrower 2 to 5 years at interest-only; after that they must start paying off the principle. During this time, the principle has grown. A great many borrowers may find themselves unable to pay the higher payments that come at the end of this interest-only period. In this case, interest-only loans are similar to ARMs, and have similar default and foreclosure rates (higher than for regular fixed mortgages where the payment stays the same throughout).

The 50-year mortgage simply spreads your payments out over a longer time period and greatly increases the amount of interest you will payback; this also tends to reduce your build-up of equity. Alex Diaz Jr., Vice President of Statewide Bancorp in Rancho Cucamonga, stated that the 50-year mortgage has particular appeal in California because prices are higher than the rest of the country. The 30-year fixed mortgage is great, but with gas prices so high, people we’re dealing with are concerned about making prices work, and the 50-year mortgage is something they’re starting to consider.” The real estate market has grown by leaps and bounds in California with the average home selling in excess of 300,000.

The 50-year mortgage was designed to do three things. First, it makes it much easier for someone to buy a home in these high price areas. Second, it can help buffer and insulate the borrower against a housing bubble or possible localized deflation. Third, it keeps the selling prices high. However, many so-called real estate experts will tell you that the interest-only loan does the same thing, but does it? The main problem with the interest-only loan is that it does not insulate or offer any protection for the borrower from increasing principle, negative equity (which can happen should there be a drop in housing prices), and, of course, those increasing payments when the term you agreed is over.

Keeping this in mind, plus the fact that there is only a very minor difference in initial payments (payments over the interest-only period), clearly the 50-year mortgage should be a better way to go.

If your budget allows, a good tactic to use is to make bi-monthly payments which will reduce the interest and term of the loan saving you many thousands of pounds. There are many lenders out there now offering this option to their borrowers. As they say, the real money in real estate is made from buying low and selling high.

The problem is that in most of these hot communities, the selling price often ends up being much higher than the asking price, plus houses do not stay on the market for very long at all. So, buying low is normally out of the question. Just try finding a bargain foreclosure or HUD homes for sale in California, it’s a little like trying to find gold in the old days. In these hot communities, the real money is made by buying and holding for a number of years allowing for the yearly increases and returns on additions and upgrades. Money can be made for sure, but with a uncertain future. It is really best to have a payment program set in stone always use a fixed term and rate mortgage. You can still sell in five years or less, make money, and have the added comfort of a fixed payment.

Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer, then write me! http:www.CarlHampton.com

Posted in:
Mortgages

Interest Only Mortgages

February 15th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

These days, as people scramble for new and more creative ways to finance buying a home, the interest only mortgage is becoming more common and well known. An interest only mortgage is one in which you have the option of paying only the interest (or just the interest and a portion of the principal) each month in the early years of the mortgage loan. Interest only periods may be applied to adjustable rate mortgages, or 30 year fixed rate mortgages, depending on the lender.

In a traditional mortgage, each month your mortgage payment is divided in two parts – one part is paid on the interest charge, the other on the principal of the loan. The main feature of an interest only mortgage loan is that during a specified initial period of time – usually three, five, seven or ten years – you may choose to make a payment of the interest portion of the loan only. The option is flexible. One month you may choose to make an interest only payment, another you may choose to make an interest-plus-part-of-the-principal mortgage payment, or a full, standard monthly mortgage payment. Needless to say, an interest-only payment will be significantly less than a traditional mortgage payment.

The flexibility of an interest-only mortgage allows you to adjust your mortgage cost on a month by month basis, giving you more control over your monthly cash flow. In any given month during the interest-only period, you have the flexibility to pay as much or as little on your mortgage as you can.

Interest only mortgages aren’t right for everyone. While you have the option of paying interest only each month during the early years, the principal repayment on your mortgage loan is accumulating. At the end of your interest only period, your mortgage payment will take a dramatic jump. Financial experts recommend interest only mortgages for specific types of borrowers: those whose income is supplemented by large commissions or bonuses throughout the year, those who can reasonably expect to be making considerably more income in a few years than they are now, and those borrowers who actually WILL invest the difference between their interest-only payment and their full mortgage payment in profitable investments.

The power of an interest-only loan, according to most experts, is that you can ‘afford to buy more house’. Because you’ll have the choice during the early years of paying only the interest each month, you can effectively afford the monthly payments on a house that’s as much as 30% more expensive than you could with an amortizing (typical) mortgage payment.

You also, however, have the choice each month of paying the interest plus as much on the principal as you wish. If you’re a salesman, for instance, whose standard income is supplemented quarterly and semi-annually by large commissions or bonuses, you could pay interest-only during lean months, saving yourself up to 350 in those months. In the months that you get a large commission though, you could choose to pay down several thousand pounds on the principal.

An interest only mortgage also makes sense if you have a solid investment plan. If a typical mortgage payment would be 900 monthly, and your interest-only payment for the month is 625, then the best financial strategy according to many financial experts is to invest the remaining 275 in a solid, money-making stocks program.

Interest only loans are not for everyone, but they can be a valuable financial tool that can help you control your spending and give your investment power some added oomph. Don’t rush blindly into an interest only mortgage, but do speak to a financial expert or loan officer about whether an interest only loan may be right for you.

Posted in:
Mortgages