Financial Utopia – Help with credit cards, debt savings and loans.

With the plethora of loan programs expanding every year, borrowers are finding themselves faced with decisions about what loan type is best for their individual situation. The potential for difficulties and confusion is significant, and it is for this reason that borrowers seek to educate themselves about the various types of mortgages and their features before committing to any contract.

If a borrower is seeking stability and consistency, the safest type of loan contract is the traditional 30-year fixed mortgage. With this loan, the borrowers payment and interest rate does not change for the entire duration of the loan. The payment will be predictable and the borrower does not need to concern himself with potential changes in the real estate marketplace or the economy.

However, the 30-year fixed mortgage may not be attractive to the more sophisticated buyer, or to the buyer with less disposable income. These individuals often choose ARMs, Interest Only loans, or Balloon loans. All three of these loans have their own unique set of characteristics that make them attractive, but each of these loan types carry the potential for confusion and significantly higher monthly payments in the future.

Any time a borrower gets a mortgage with a fluctuating payment schedule, there is the potential for problems in the future, which could ultimately result in damage to credit profiles or even foreclosure. The safest type of loan is one that the borrower can afford every month, and one with a guaranteed fixed payment. The alternative loan types mentioned above all have payments that will undoubtedly increase at some point in the future, thereby presenting risk to the home owners financial situation if he fails to adequately prepare for those changes.

When borrowers get ARMs or Balloons or Interest Only loans knowing that they can barely afford the initial fixed payments, they are putting themselves in serious danger. Lenders and mortgage brokers often fail to adequately prepare the borrower for the increases in payments looming on the horizon. Realistically, borrowers should only apply for and obtain such contracts when they can legitimately afford the highest permissible payment in the contract, rather than just the initial reduced payment.

Currently on the market, there are many varieties of mortgage loans available. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell which mortgage loan is suitable and applicable to you.

I will discuss the 3 main types of mortgage loans on the market. Most banks and lenders offer mortgage loans that belong to one of these categories.

1. Fixed Mortgage Loan

Fixed mortgage loans are the most popular and common among the three types of mortgage loan.

You take out a mortgage loan with a lender and you pay a certain repayment amount for a fixed period of time. Most people usually choose 30 year fixed mortgage loans as the monthly repayment amounts are low and the interest rates usually evens out in a 30 year period.

One disadvantage of 30 year fixed mortgage loan is you have to repay more for your mortgage loan in total compared to someone who takes up a 15 or 5 year loan.

There are also shorter time periods such as 5 year, 10 or 15 years fixed mortgage loans. It allows people who want to pay off their house in a shorter period of time. Of course, you have to make sure you have the financial capability to repay higher monthly repayments.

There is also another sub-category of mortgage loan called adjustable rate mortgage loan or ARM. Usually, you will start off with a lower interest rate compared to a 30 year fixed mortgage loan. So you ended up paying less each month for your mortgage repayment.

However take note that ARM is highly fluctuating depending on interest rates. In other words, you pay less for monthly repayment when interest is low and pay more when interest rates is high.

2. Convertible Loans

Convertible loans are becoming more popular as it allows people to keep their mortgage loan options open allowing for more flexibility.

If you find interest rates are too high, you can convert to a fixed rate mortgage loan. If interest rates are low, you can also convert to ARM based mortgage loans.

There are too many varieties of convertible loans under this category. However I list one type of convertible loans I dealt with.

Balloon Loan

A balloon loan is a fixed rate convertible loan. Usually, you start off by repaying small monthly repayments for a period of years, usually 5 or 7 years. At the end of that period, you will need to repay the loan in one lump sum.

So whats the advantage of a balloon loan? It is mostly used by investors or property dealers who are looking to sell the house in a short period of time. They can take advantage of low interest rates without locking their money on a house. Since they will have a large sum of money when they sell the house, it will not be a problem to return the lump sum.

3. Special mortgage loans

These are mortgage loans that are only being offered to a group of people. For example the FHA mortgage loans are only available for first time home buyers or people with bad credit.

Another one is the veteran affairs mortgage loan. They are only offered to widows of the US armed forces.

The best way to know whether you qualify or is suitable for a mortgage loan is to speak to a professional mortgage consultant before you decide to take up any mortgage offer