Compare Line Of Credit

If I have bad personal credit can I use my businesses credit?

Usually personal and business credit are pretty much scrutinized at the same time, and if one or the other has a bad credit rating, you are pretty much out of luck. How you conduct your personal finances and business finances is considered a track record for both entities.

2008-11-06 16:14:10 by The Tycoon

When shopping for a home equity line of credit, it's important to talk to two or three different banks to see what terms they can offer. Find ...

We are shopping around and did get approved for a $250,000 HELOC with a 8.25% interest rate. Is this a good rate? I mean compared to a credit card it is (owe $3,000 at 16% interest) but how about as a Line of credit?

8.25 is the going rate for a HELOC however if you check around some banks usually have a special for the first few months. But is a HELOC what you are really looking for? Are you aware that HELOCs have variable rates? At the bank I work for the ceiling is 16%. If it is just a one time loan secured by property that you are looking for and not a line of credit then I would recommend a Home Equity Fixed Loan. This is still a loan secured by your house however your rate is fixed and is usually lower. For instance the max loan term on a Home Equity Fixed Loan or (HEFIX) is 20 years. For $250,000.00 at our rate for 20 years is as low as 7.52% and that would bring your payment to around $2,017.17 a month. The main thing you need to remember is that a HELOC is not a fixed rate and I have had people in my office that have had low rate HELOCs but as soon as the rates began to climb so did their loan rates. Also some banks do not charge an application fee or closing costs on their Home Equity loans but some do so shop around because thats an important thing to do with so many options out there.

2007-01-25 06:59:16 by KathyS

My husband wants to go to an evening mba program, while he continues to work full time. The program lasts 18mo, and costs about $50K for the entire program. We are supposed to pay in 6 installments. We have more than enough equity in our home to take out a line of credit. I'm wondering which is a better choice, doing a federal student loan, or using a line of credit. I'm thinking that the line of credit is a good choice, because we don't have to borrow all the money at once. Drawing from it every 3 months, for 18 months. We hope to pay the loan off within 5-7 years after graduation.

I don't have any experience with federal student loans, so would like to know how the two options compare.

thanks.
I understand that the federal loans have a limit. There is no way that a single loan would cover the approx. 25K/year we would need for 2 years.

Usually on Federal Student Loans you do not have to start repaying the debt until after school is complete. In fact, there is a grace period of six months that you don't have to start repaying it. Also, the student loans have a lower interest rate than home equity loans.

2007-02-23 12:47:07 by zooper

household income is around 130k. we have a mortgage loan of 280,000. our HELOC interest rates is the PRIME RATE plus 3/8ths.
we got this home equity line of credit with Countrywide Financial. Our mortgage is with JP Morgan Chase. I'm wondering if I could have done better on the HELOC by going straight to JP Morgan Chase for the HELOC and possibly might have avoided the $500 closing fee? Is this a bad deal I have with Countrywide? Do others know if Countrywide is competitive. I should have compared more before I got the loan. Does Countrywide loan to risky customers and therefore expect a higher interest rate from all its customers?

you definitely should have done research before going into any loan with any bank. Most banks are prime- 0.50% and you probably should have looked around for one that didn't charge closing fees.....the good news is, do your research now, wait a few months and pay off this one with a more competitive offer.

2006-11-02 10:04:58 by Mark

I heard that comparing auto loans before shopping for a car is a prudent thing to do. But I've also heard that every time you apply for a loan your credit rating is negatively affected. What's the truth?

This is a common misconception about FICO scores. While having too many inquiries on your report can lower your score the timing and frequency make a difference. Because it's common for most people to shop their loan to multiple lenders the scores block out a period, usually 30 days, to count as a single inquiry. So if you're shopping for a loan it's best to do it all at once. They'll all show up on your report but the scores will only count them once.

Where you hurt yourself is if your shopping for a new credit card, loan, line of credit etc every couple of months. Usually the number of inquiries are counted over a 12 month period. And it's worse if you were shopping recently vs. 6 months ago. The recency makes a difference as well. Which is why it's best not to do anything 6-12 months prior to a mortgage application.

2008-02-12 22:12:23 by StillCurious