Loans

If you are looking to reduce your monthly mortgage payments, you can consider refinancing your home loan to a lower interest rate or from an adjustable-rate into a fixed rate loan by learning more about Bank of America refinance programs. Bank of America offers good refinancing programs to suit your needs. Furthermore, the bank also has good rates and excellent customer service. The bank takes good care of its returning clients so if you are searching for a mortgage or a refinancing scheme, you may do well to sign up with this bank.

So, how do you know if you qualify for refinancing? Well, you can refinance your mortgage if you have already built up at least 10% of the equity of your home. After all, refinancing means you are cashing out on the equity of your home. That’s why you need to have at least 10% of equity before you can refinance your mortgage. Also, most banks will look at your home equity before considering your application for refinancing. This is because the lender wants to use your home equity as collateral for the loan. You will also need to be current on your home loan payments and not defaulting in the payments.

Next, you can learn what is Bank of America Refinance program and how many programs the bank offers. So, even if you do not have enough equity in your home and have been current on your mortgage payments for at least 12 months, you may still be eligible for refinancing under the bank’s Home Affordable Refinance program. This program is part of the federal government’s Making Home Affordable program and it was developed to help those who can’t qualify for a traditional refinance. The program will be able to help reduce the monthly mortgage payments for borrowers. However, you are only eligible under this program if your loan is owned by Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) or Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation). Other than this, your first mortgage has to be 105% or less of your home value, your home is a single-family home unit and you have not been more than 30 days late on your monthly mortgage payments for at least 12 months.

To apply for the Home Affordable Refinance program, you can call the bank and inform it of your current financial information so that it could check on your eligibility for it. The bank may also appraise your home, pull up a credit report to verify your financial situation and then it will notify you of your eligibility within 75 days of your initial call. It will take the bank another 75 days to evaluate your application and once it makes a decision, it will send you a letter. If you have been approved, you will get a call from the bank to schedule the closing of the loan. The closing process is similar to what you experience when you apply for the first mortgage when you purchased your home. You will need to sign the closing documents and you will also be required to pay the closing costs, unless it can be financed into the loan amount.

There are also other Bank of America lender refinance programs such as interest-only refinance loans, jumbo loans, combo loans and other specialized loan programs to suit your specific financial needs and situation. With so many specialized programs including fixed-rate and adjustable rate refinancing schemes available at the bank, it is really worth your while to check it out in your search for a mortgage refinance program.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Military personnel have to face up the brunt of financial difficulties not only through their career but even after they are retired from active service. While many do who join up the armed forces with the sole intention of dedicating their lives to the country, they still have to face the harsh reality of the trouble of managing their lives and their family with their meager salaries. For this reason, loans for military retirees and active duty personnel become very essential.

The best route to take for loans for military retirees is the Department of Veteran Affairs that provides VA Home Loan Programs. This has many benefits attached to it. (more…)

photo credit: tosaytheleast

Who knows the term hard money?

Hard money is private money lending, money you will receive from individuals that will loan you their money against your real estate, hard money lender is the bank and the bank will Loan you their money and put a lien against your real estate, the same with hard money lenders.

What is the difference between the hard money lender’s programs and the bank across the street?

1. Hard money lenders can help investors with large loan amounts, while banks will make it very difficult on the borrower to loan these large amount, so the loan would probably end up with an insurance company to loan the money and the requirements are high.

2. Hard money lenders can fund any hard money loan within a week, while for the banks it will take at least a month or even more.

3. Hard money lenders will ask for very little documentation, while the banks would ask for almost everything you have, taxes, income, assets, history of the property before and plans for after the purchase, business license, basically they will definitely want to see more from you to loan you some money.

4. Hard money lenders have guidelines but they can make exceptions without processing it through a whole underwriting team- while the bank need to go through different departments and underwriters and processors just to make an exception, and then the exception will not get excepted. (more…)