Obtain Inexpensive Financing Through Equity

Obtain Inexpensive Financing Through Equity

by Mary Wise

If you want to get financing with very advantageous terms and you own a property, you can apply for a home equity loan and get what you want even if you have a mortgage on your home. Home equity loans provide an excellent source of funds with low interest rates, flexible repayment programs and higher loan amounts than other loan products.

Thanks to collateral, home equity loans are able to provide you with the funds you need for whatever purpose without charging excessive amounts on interests for the money lent. If you are able to apply for a home equity loan you should consider it as home equity loans are all about advantages and very few drawbacks.

Loans Based On Equity

Equity is the difference between the market value of a property and the amount of debt that the property is currently guaranteeing. This implies that if a home is valued in $100,000 and there is an outstanding mortgage of $40,000, the property has available equity for an amount of $60,000 which can be used for securing a home equity loan or line of credit.

Loans based on equity are then secured loans that use the available equity on the property to guarantee repayment of an amount of money lent to the proprietor. These loans have similar loan terms as home loans: low interest rates, high loan amounts, longer repayment programs available and resulting lower monthly payments too.

Loan Amount You Can Obtain

The amount of money you can obtain will be determined by the amount of available equity on your home. In the above example you could request a home equity loan of up to $60,000. However, in order to obtain 100% financing you need to have a very good credit score and history. Otherwise, some limitations will be triggered and you won't be able to request the whole amount.

Usually, with a credit history which is less than perfect, you'll have an 85% credit limit on the amount of money you can guarantee with your property. Thus, the amount of your home equity loan and mortgage combined cannot exceed 85% of the value of your property. This means that, following the above example, you could request only an additional $45,000.

Requirements For Approval

If you want to get approved for a home equity loan there are not many requirements you'll need to meet. Of course, you'll have to have enough available equity on your home in order to guarantee the loan, but other than that, the credit and income requirements are not that harsh. Credit requirements are not an issue because the loan is guaranteed with collateral. Thus, only a recent credit history free from critical delinquencies will be required.

As regards to the income requirements, however, you'll need to show proof of a steady income fit for affording the amount of the monthly payments without sacrifices. This implies that only 40% of your income can be used for paying the home equity loan installments. This percentage is however a flexible one and you can always extend the repayment program in order to get lower monthly payments.