Many people automatically think that they want a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. They feel that this offers the maximum peace of mind for homeowner loans in that they forever know exactly what their mortgage payment will be, and their house is completely paid off at the end of the loan (anyone up for a mortgage burning party?). This is true, but it is actually very expensive for you to go with the 30-year fixed rate option. Other programs offer a shorter length of time at a fixed rate that can save you many dollars of interest payments for only a slightly higher mortgage monthly payment. A shorter length loan (still at a fixed rate) usually can be obtained at a slightly lower interest rate, and you build up equity in the home much faster because of the higher monthly payment. Other common fixed-rate terms are 20 years and 15 years.

The differences in the amount of interest that you will pay over the life of the various fixed-rate loan options can be staggering. Lets look at a $200,000 fixed-rate mortgage at different life terms:

Monthly Total Interest

Term Rate Payment Paid over Life

30 years 6.00% $1,199.10 $231,676.00

20 years 5 3/4% $1,404.17 $137,000.08

15 years 5 1/2% $1,634.17 $ 94,150.60

The difference in total interest costs between 20 years and 30 years is dramatic! For an additional monthly payment of $205, you get a little bit lower interest rate and, more important, you save $94,675.92 in total interest payments almost half of what you paid for the house to begin with! If you can afford to pay $1,200 per month, you should be able to afford $1,400 each month otherwise you are probably buying more house than you can afford.

The buyer of your mortgage note will always price the loan for their purposes. A fixed rate may not be the best deal for you. Are you positive that you will be living in this house for the length of the mortgage life? On average, a mortgage lasts only about 7 years because the borrower moves to a different house or refinances at a lower rate. Think hard and long before you lock into a fixed rate mortgage. Check out other types of loan options first. Depending on current interest rate structures, a fixed rate may be preferable to a variable rate and vice-versa.

Happy home owning,

Manik Thapar
http://www.themortgageinsider.us

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Manik_Thapar

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Choosing your cash-back credit card takes a little more study and investigation than you might think, because the features vary from one to another. In fact, some of them that offer big rewards might not pay off at all - ever.

The first thing to watch for is an annual fee. If you have to pay to carry the card you might have to spend quite a bit just to break even. So unless that annual fee offers some other benefit, such as an extremely low interest rate, you probably want to keep looking.

Next is the kind of cash-back. Is it actual cash, or is it points? If it’s points, how many do you have to accumulate before you can turn them into cash?

Some cards offer cash-back but with a combination of expiration dates and payment thresholds that mean you have to spend a lot in order to ever see the cash back. If the threshold is say, $100 and you’re earning 2%, you’d have to spend $5,000 before you get your rebate. And if your rewards expire at the end of each twelve month period, you could have spent $4,900 without seeing a dime returned to you.

You want rewards that roll over from one year to the next, or that automatically pay out at the end of the period, no matter if you’ve only “earned” $20.

Check to see how you go about getting your cash back - will they automatically send a check or credit your account? Will you have a choice of how to receive it? Or will you need to fill out rebate forms in order to get your money?

If you use your card for business and thus charge and pay off large amounts each month, it makes sense to use a card that rewards you. But be careful, some credit card issuers put a cap on how much you can earn. Some cap your earnings at $300 per year.

Look for restrictions. If the card rewards grocery, gasoline, or restaurant purchases, don’t assume that just because you bought groceries, gas, or a meal that the purchase will qualify. Many of the credit card issuers have significant and surprising limitations with regard to which stores, gasoline outlets, or restaurants qualify.

The bottom line is that if you want to get a card that fits your lifestyle, and will truly give the promised cash back, you have to read all the fine print. It isn’t easy - those agreements are filled with legaleze and the print is minute, but reading it all is the only way to know if you really are going to get what you expect.

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Until recently, car owners were faced with limited choices for getting their cars clean inside and out, most of which were not green options. None of the three most common choices were all that attractive for green car owners:

* Professional auto detailing services: You’re certain to get a great job done when you take your vehicle in to be detailed by a professional team, but at what cost? These jobs can run upwards of $120 depending on what services you opt for. Plus, if you’re concerned about your health and the environment, you may not like the chemicals and toxic air fresheners used to get your car clean with these companies.

* DIY car wash bays: Alternatively, you can take your car to the local vehicle washing bays to spray it down yourself or run it through a touchless system, but these commercial washing services use enormous quantities of water and again, questionable chemicals. It can also be costly, including your time, especially if you’re doing a thorough job on your own.

* Wash car at home: While this is an economical solution, it involves dragging out the rags, hose, buckets, toxic cleaning products, which aren’t healthy for you or the environment. Washing your car at home with a hose can consume up to 140 gallons of water with one wash. Not only do you pay for that water, but all of toxic chemicals, oil, gasoline, heavy metals are washed straight into storm drains. And, it can take several hours to get the job done when washing a car the old-fashioned way with a hose and a bucket and dry time.

Most green car drivers looking for an economical way to clean their vehicles feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. They either choose something that’s expensive with a few green attributes, or they do something inexpensive with fewer environmental benefits. There have been very few green car care products on the market until recently.

Thanks to some cutting edge technology and a real green spirit, the new Laura Klein’s Green Car care products will get the job done in a fraction of the time, with zero water waste, and without harming the planet. These car detailing products are biodegradable, made from plant- and water-based ingredients, and they’re non-toxic which makes them safe and healthy for you and the planet.

Laura Klein’s Green Car Waterless Wash & Shine is a truly amazing product. All you need is the spray bottle and two microfiber cloths. You simply spray the solution on a two-by-two foot square area on your car and wipe away the dirt and grime with the first microfiber cloth, then polish and shine with a second microfiber cloth (or use a clean section of the first cloth) and you’re done! No pre-wetting or rinsing required. It will not scratch your car. It cleans and shines lightly to moderately soiled surfaces, lifting dirt and soil off surfaces for easy cleaning (they admit: their Green Car Waterless Wash and Shine isn’t for caked on, four-wheeling dirt…its specialty is every day grime-fighting!). No water, no bucket, no hose, or messy clean up! One 32 oz bottle will give you 10-16 car washes per bottle (depending on the size of your car) and can literally save $100s a year in professional car washing fees (depending how much you spend of course).

Other products include, the Laura Klein Green Car Cleaning Kit that comes with the Waterless Wash & Shine, Tire & Dash Dressing, Glass & Mirror and two microfiber cloths. If buying a hybrid doesn’t fit your budget, greening your car with Laura Klein’s Green Car Kit couldn’t be easier.

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Regularly in our search for finance options, we are led into a crossroad where we must make a choice between secured and unsecured bad credit loans. Both are equally appealing and put the borrower in a troublesome spot. It is difficult to make up the mind regarding one actual finance option because each has their share of advantages and disadvantages. What makes it harder to choose upon the finance option is that both secured and unsecured loans have an antagonistic set of features, and the downsides of one are countered by the other.

Secured loans vs. Unsecured loans
Secured loans are the most typical method of financing large sums of cash. Even in older times folk used to take loans to use in agriculture or other such wishes by keeping their lands as security. Unsecured loans, on the other hand are of a recent origin. Since secured loans needed the borrower to keep his home as security, many of us who were without houses or who did not like attaching houses to obligations were left without finance. This also hampered the lending business of the banks as the group was large. Thus, unsecured loans were launched as an alternative choice to the secured loans.

Misconceptions on Secured loans
there are plenty of a fables doing rounds that have led straight to a flagging recognition of secured loans. Folk believe that by offering home as security they’ll have to move home till they pay back the amount lent. Folks only transfer the ownership rights and not the right to live in the home. The bank can lay claim to the home only when the borrower does not repay the loan in total.

This will Particularly interest the homeowners who do not take secured loans to guard their houses. Another important point that these people need to bear in mind is that they cannot escape the bank even on taking an unsecured loan. Though these loans are offered without any backing, the bank reveals ways through which to recover the amount remaining on the unsecured loans.

this can shift a significant part of the customers for unsecured loans that encompasses of the house owners. However, unsecured loans continue to be the lifeline for the tenants. This is despite the indisputable fact that unsecured loans are way more expensive than the secured loans. The interest rate charged from the unsecured loan customers is higher due to the larger risk involved.

Credit wants
One often gets to hear about credit report in the monetary circles. Credit score is a record of the behavior of an individual in terms of the credit behaviour. Any failure by an individual on any liabilities, loans, or mortgages is instantly recorded in the credit file. Though banks like the borrower to have a good credit history, they do not attach a special significance to it if the borrower is offering collateral. Home can back the loan if the borrower refuses to. The backing however is absent in an unsecured personal loans. This is why banks demand a good credit report when offering an unsecured loan. Banks who accept to offer unsecured loans with bad credit try to compensate the risk with a still higher IR.

Terms differ with a secured loan
With a secured loan, you can in reality enjoy more favourable terms than the unsecured loans. Aside from the low interest rate, there are several more features completely for the borrowers of secured loans. Some banks permit the borrowers to lengthen the duration of repayment of the secured loans as much as they wish. Characteristic repayment period extends between 5-30 years. Extending the term of repayment however, increases the interest that a borrower will have to pay. Borrowers can discuss with mavens about the optimum term that may lessen the interest cost without enlarging the duty on the monthly earnings.

Whatever be the option selected, adequate consideration must be given to the conditions under which the option is to work. A selected finance option that did wonders to your mates finances, need not always work in the same manner in your case. Instead of improving the situation, they sometimes back fire with significant consequences for the finances. Taking 2nd opinion is always beneficial since it helps to test the legality of the advice offered by your bank.

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Becoming a mortgage broker and helping people with their home loans is one of the most intrinsically rewarding finance careers in Australia. In addition to the buzz of helping people buy their homes, successful brokers also enjoy a high income and the lifestyle it affords.

While the profession isn’t for everyone, mortgage brokers come from many different backgrounds. This is partly because the entry requirements into the profession are not as stringent as other careers, such as medicine or accounting, for which a university degree is required. There are, however, some entry requirements that must be met before an individual can begin a career as a mortgage broker, and there is also a requirement for ongoing professional development that must be maintained in order to remain qualified.

The minimum academic requirement that must be completed by any individual wishing to become a mortgage broker is the Certificate 4 in Financial Services (Finance/Mortgage lending FNS40804). This course is offered by many different institutions and can be conducted either face to face or by distance learning depending on the institution. Although distance learning is an option it is recommended that prospective brokers with no industry experience undergo the training in person. This will allow the student to ask questions of their instructor and receive extra attention on any concepts that are difficult to grasp.

Once the Certificate is completed the individual will be required to join an industry association. There are two options available; the MFAA (Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia) and the FBAA (Finance Brokers Association of Australia). The MFAA was previously called the MIAA. Brokers are only required to join one association and both require the Certificate 4 to be completed before joining. Additionally, there is Federal legislation currently being introduced that will make it a legal requirement for all mortgage brokers in Australia to complete the Certificate.

In addition to the minimum academic requirements it is recommended that prospective brokers contain several personal qualities that will help them succeed in the industry. A basic grasp of mathematics is required to accurately assess the suitability of the finance products that the broker will advise their clients on. A basic grasp of the English language is also required as legal documents are involved in property transactions.

As mortgage broking is essentially a sales job paying commissions, some sales experience is beneficial, although this can be learned from franchisors or mentors. It is also essential to be self-motivated and well organised, especially if conducting business in a self-employed capacity. It is likely that the mortgage broker will deal with multiple applications from several different clients at any one time so good organisational skills are a must to stay ahead of the game.

Once a broker has completed their initial training and gained some experience they will be required to complete further education. This is known as CPD (Continued Professional Development). Various training institutions offer courses that count towards CPD requirements. Some of these courses can also be used to gain new marketable skills such as the ability to offer clients commercial mortgages and other finance products.

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