Out purchasing a house, you’ll need to apply for a good mortgage
that’s suits your needs and income. It would be best to learn the type
of mortgages available in the market and then study them before opting
for them. Most known mortgages in Market are the fixed rate Mortgage
and Adjustable Rate Mortgages.
There are other options in the market besides these mortgages which
could be of your use if you are having a credit rating problem and are
unable to opt for the fixed rate Mortgage or ARMs loans, let’s look at
them.
Subprime mortgages
Egregious credit problems, such as a recent foreclosure, will prevent
you from getting a mortgage. But lesser credit flaws won’t necessarily
stop you from getting a home loan. An industry of subprime mortgage
lenders has sprung up to serve the vast constituency of Americans who
have credit problems.
Subprime defined
Generally, subprime mortgages are for borrowers with credit scores
under 620. Credit scores range from about 300 to 850, with most
consumers landing in the 600s and 700s. Someone who is habitually late
in paying bills, and especially someone who falls behind on debts by 30,
60 or 90 days or more, will suffer from a plummeting credit score. If
it falls below 620, that consumer is in subprime territory.
Few lenders will use the term “subprime” to describe you or your loan
because it’s considered bad salesmanship. You might hear the word
“non-prime” or, more likely, an adjective won’t be used to describe the
mortgage at all
Mortgages
for people with excellent credit are somewhat of a commodity, with
rates that don’t vary much from lender to lender for equivalent loans.
That’s not the case with subprime mortgages. You might receive widely
differing offers from different subprime lenders because they have
different ways of weighing the risk of giving you a loan. For that
reason, it’s important to comparison shop when your credit score is less
than 620.
How subprime mortgages differ
Subprime loans have higher rates than equivalent prime loans. Lenders
consider many factors in a process called “risk-based pricing” when
they come up with mortgage rates and terms. This makes it impossible to
generalize about subprime rates. They are higher, but how much higher
depends on factors such as credit score, size of down payment and what
types of delinquencies the borrower has in the recent past (from a
mortgage lender’s standpoint, late mortgage or rent payments are worse
than late credit card payments).
A subprime loan also is more likely to have a prepayment penalty, a
balloon payment or both. A prepayment penalty is a fee assessed against
the borrower for paying off the loan early — either because the borrower
sells the house or refinances the high-rate loan. A mortgage with a
balloon payment requires the borrower to pay off the entire outstanding
amount in a lump sum after a certain period has passed, often five
years. If the borrower can’t pay the entire amount when the balloon
payment is due, he or she has to refinance the loan or sell the house.
Researchers contend that prepayment penalties and balloon payments
are associated with higher foreclosure rates. The subprime mortgage
industry contends that borrowers get lower interest rates in exchange
for prepayment penalties and balloon payments, but that point is
debatable.
Predatory loans
Subprime customers have to be on the lookout for predatory lenders
who set out to cheat borrowers. There are several predatory tactics, and
sometimes a lender will combine them. Some lenders soak naive borrowers
with outrageous fees and sky-high interest rates. These lenders are
likely to tell the borrower that his or her credit score is lower than
it really is.
Another predatory tactic is to pressure a homeowner to refinance the
mortgage frequently, charging high closing fees each time and rolling
the closing costs into the mortgage amount. That goes hand in hand with
another predatory tactic: Issuing a loan regardless of the borrower’s
ability to repay it. When the borrower inevitably defaults, the
predatory lender forecloses and sells the property.
An ethical mortgage lender doesn’t want to foreclose on a property
because it is a money-losing process. An ethical lender makes money by
charging interest and loses money by foreclosing. A predatory lender, on
the other hand, profits by repeatedly collecting closing fees, then
seizing the house.
To defend yourself from predatory lenders, find your credit score
before shopping for a mortgage, and ask people whom you trust for
referrals to mortgage lenders. And comparison shop by going to at least
two mortgage brokers or lenders.
Other types of mortgages
The mortgage market is much more diverse than some borrowers
think.Besides the standard fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages,
there are other types of mortgages and ways to finance a home.
1. Jumbo mortgage
This is considered a nonconforming loan because it exceeds the loan
limit set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two publicly chartered
corporations that buy mortgage loans from lenders, thereby ensuring that
mortgage money is available at all times in all locations around the
country. The single-family limit changes annually and the current limit
are always posted in related websites. If you need to borrow more than
that, you will need a jumbo mortgage, which generally has a higher
interest rate than a conforming loan.
Pro: Opportunity to buy larger, more expensive home.
Con: Pay a higher interest rate in exchange for the lender’s higher risk.
2. Two-step mortgage
These are mortgage rates
combine elements of fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages. They go by
confusing names such as 2/28, 5/25 or 7/23. A two-step mortgage features
a fixed rate and payment for an initial period, followed by one
adjustment, then a fixed rate and payment for the remainder of the loan
term. A 7/23, for example, has an initial fixed period of seven years,
an adjustment and then 23 more years of payments following the
adjustment.
By Extranoski
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