Find The Best Deal On Home Refinancing

http://www.kcra.com/family/19402420/detail.html

(ARA) – Like so many Americans, you may have a balloon mortgage that is coming due or you’ve had an unexpected financial hit such as a large hospital bill or a job loss that has made your current mortgage payments unreasonable. If so, refinancing your mortgage can be a great way to save money every month.

Refinancing your mortgage also lets you consolidate other debt, such as credit card balances, into one low-interest loan. You may also want to consider converting some of the equity in your home to cash to use for large expenses such as college tuition or home improvement.

Online services like Bills.com make it easier than ever to find the best deal on refinancing your home. With a couple clicks of the mouse, you’ll receive quotes from up to four lenders so you can choose the best deal for your situation.

Before you refinance, ask yourself the following questions:

•How long will I be in my house? If you’re planning to move soon, it may not make sense to refinance. Calculate how much you would save monthly, and then compare that number to the costs of refinancing to make your decision. You can find a number of refinance calculators on the Internet, including at Bills.com.
•Can I afford to cash out equity in my home? Paying college tuition is a good use of your home equity. Taking the value out of your home to take the family to Disney World may be fun, but in the long run, not wise. Just remember how long it took you to build up that equity.
•Can I change my habits? Using a home refinancing to consolidate debt can be a good idea — but only if you don’t revert to your old behavior. Clearing your credit card debt and then starting the cycle of maxing them out again means you’ll end up back at the same spot. If you are consolidating debt, cut up your credit cards or resolve to pay them off in full each month.
When you’re ready to refinance, Bills.com makes it simple. Just fill out the short information form on the Web site, hit submit and up to four lenders will make you an offer. The site only asks for non-sensitive information such as the current value of your home, whether you’re employed, if you’ve ever declared bankruptcy. You will not be required to supply personal information such as a Social Security number until you get further into the process.

How can you find the best deals in home refinancing? Check out Visit Bills.com to get bids from up to four lenders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCCg6XK3lCs

Part 2: Nuts and bolts of mortgage modification
By Jack Guttentag, Monday, May 11, 2009.

http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/jackguttentag/loan-mod-go-it-alone

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1.

Last week, I went over the steps involved in getting a loan modified. This article examines which, if any of these steps, may require a borrower to seek help.

The bottom line is that many, perhaps most, borrowers can handle it all themselves, but some may need an assist here or there. And some may want to delegate the entire responsibility.

Negotiating the Deal: Firms hustling for modification business sometimes pretend that they have the knowledge and skills needed to negotiate a favorable deal with the loan servicer. In fact, a modification is not negotiated — it is granted (or denied) by the servicer, applying rules or principles set out by the investors who own the loans. In the case of modifications under the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program, the rules are set by the federal government, but these do not override investor rules. If the documents governing the servicing of a particular loan — known as the Pooling and Servicing Agreement — prohibits a particular modification, the MHA program will not help.

Delivering Information to the Servicer: Legitimate firms in the modification business know the information that each servicer wants and where to deliver it. This is their principle stock in trade. But borrowers can now obtain this information from my Web site, see Mortgage Servicer Information.

Assuring the Accuracy of Information Provided: Filling out the servicer’s questionnaire form correctly is a challenge to some borrowers, but free help is readily available. One of the purposes of HOPE NOW, the alliance of servicers, investors and counseling agencies established last year to help borrowers in trouble, was to provide free counseling. Borrowers can call 1-888-995-HOPE, or they can find a HUD counselor in their state by going to http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm.

Follow-Up: Mistakes happen in modifying loans because the process is complex, and servicer employees may be overworked and/or undertrained. Either the borrower or the borrower’s designee should follow up the request for modification to make sure the papers haven’t been lost and the case is in an active queue. If the request has been rejected on the grounds that the borrower is not eligible, the borrower or the borrower’s representative should find out why and attempt to confirm the reason is legitimate.

Many, if not most, borrowers can do it all themselves, perhaps with some assistance from free counselors. But some borrowers are clueless — they need to be represented, not just counseled. They want someone to “take over” the process for them and follow it to a conclusion.