Welcome to Mortgage Guide
Mortgage Insurance Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Use an Online Mortgage Calculator to Understand ARMs
from:Adjustable rate mortgages still exist, even with the bad rap they’ve received from the mortgage crisis. They are a specialty product that were not meant to be used by everyone, just by a few people who might benefit from the adjustable rate. People who weren’t planning on spending more than five year’s in their home or people who had income that was rising were the traditional buyers of ARM loans. The reasons for this are that the loans adjustable terms are difficult to assess unless you have done your research with an online mortgage calculator. If you don’t know what you are signing with an ARM loan, you shouldn’t get this type of loan.
Get the Facts
There isn’t just one type of adjustable rate mortgage, so you will need to understand the product you are investigating before you plug any numbers into a mortgage calculator. You will need to know how long the initial payment is fixed and when and how often the rate is adjusted. For instance, in a 3/1 adjustable rate mortgage, you might have a period of three years and then it adjusts every year thereafter. There are also 5/1, 7/1, and 10/1 ARMs. There are also hybrid mortgages and ARMs that are tied to different indexes. This can make understanding the product you have a bit more complex. Try to get a good idea whether you are dealing with a classic ARM or whether this is a hybrid product. Also, make sure you know how long the initial rate lasts as some offer teaser interest rates that quickly fly by, some in less than a year.
You will also want to know if the adjustments are capped, so that they cannot go past a certain amount. This is very important to be able to see your best and worst case scenarios with a mortgage calculator. The caps are usually set as a percentage of the previous payment amount or sometimes as an interest rate hike cap. The thing to understand is that even though the interest rate increase may be capped the first year, and nothing happens to adjust the rate the following year, you may still be charged an increase from the previous year’s cap. It’s because the lender assumes you owe and they cut you a break on the previous year. This means that you won’t really be able to figure out exactly what you owe each year on the mortgage calculator, but you can get a best case and worst case scenario from the mortgage calculator.
Mortgage Insurance News
TEXT-Fitch affirms Westpac Lenders Mortgage Insurance at 'AA-'/Stable - Reuters
TEXT-Fitch affirms Westpac Lenders Mortgage Insurance at 'AA-'/Stable Reuters (The following was released by the rating agency) May 24 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has affirmed Westpac Lenders Mortgage Insurance Limited's (WLMI) Insurer Financial Strength Ratings (IFS) at 'AA-'. The Outlook is Stable. The rating reflects WLMI's robust ... |
What it takes to buy a home - Chicago Tribune
 Bloomberg | What it takes to buy a home Chicago Tribune They put down 20 percent to avoid private mortgage insurance and snagged a 30-year fixed rate of 3.75 percent from a credit union. Their monthly mortgage payment is $1524. Before you take the plunge, consider the answers to questions often posed by ... US 30-year mortgage rate falls to record 3.78 pct. Another week, another record low for mortgage rates BofA Will Buy Back $330 Million of Mortgages From Freddie |
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. to Present at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods 2012 ... - MarketWatch (press release)
 Jacksonville Daily Record | Fidelity National Financial, Inc. to Present at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods 2012 ... MarketWatch (press release) JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) , a leading provider of title insurance, mortgage services and diversified services, today announced that it will be presenting at the Keefe, ... Fidelity grows profits despite revenue drop |
Kirby McInerney LLP Investigating Potential Class Action Claims Against ... - MarketWatch (press release)
Kirby McInerney LLP Investigating Potential Class Action Claims Against ... MarketWatch (press release) To protect the lender's interest in secured property, mortgage loan contracts require the borrower to maintain specified levels of hazard insurance. If the borrower's coverage lapses, the lender is entitled to purchase coverage for the home, ... |
Increase your equity while protecting your debt - Vancouver Sun
Increase your equity while protecting your debt Vancouver Sun Although homeowners often fail to recognize the risk implicit in their mortgage debt, financial institutions do. They insist highly lever-aged borrowers, those who put down less than 20 per cent of the purchase price to buy mortgage loan insurance, ... |