Skip to content

Mortgage Calculator According to Wikipedia

2010 September 5

What is a Mortgage Calculator?

According to Wikipedia, a web based free encyclopedia, a Mortgage Calculator is “an automated tool that enables the user to quickly determine the financial implications of changes in one or more variables in a mortgage financing arrangement. The major variables include: loan principal balance, periodic interest rate, compound interest, number of payments per year, total number of payments and the regular payment amount”.


A mortgage calculator can be a very practical tool when buying a house. It’s not your typical calculator where you can resolve some mathematical equations. A mortgage calculator can give quick and reliable answers to the most savvy buyer. With this tool you can compare interest rates, costs, payment schedules and even play with the numbers, meaning, you can find out how much your monthly payment would be when you do a down payment/principal ratio equation and change the length of the loan by adding more dollars to your monthly payment.

How does a Mortgage Calculator work?

The equation to come up with numbers is not simple. I can write about it and try to explain, I’ve tried to understand it myself, and believe me it’s not an easy task. Why complicate yourself trying to come up with the numbers you need to make a decision on whether you can or you cannot afford the house you like? A mortgage calculator does all the work for you. The input information is key to determine your monthly payment. Mortgage calculators vary by manufacturer but most of them have a common denominator: the information you will need to provide, to come up with the results you are looking for.

For example: you will need to have a loan amount, an interest rate, the length of the mortgage and the home value. Added information that is also necessary is the following: annual taxes, annual insurance and annual PMI, short for private mortgage insurance. Now all of this information is very relevant when using a Mortgage calculator but the information that is essential in this process is the interest rate and the length of the loan. When you change this two variables, meaning you input a lower interest rate, then you will get a lower monthly payment. How much lower? well, that really depends on the amount of the loan.

I hope this information about Mortgage calculators is useful for you. Now the next question is, do you as a home buyer really need to have one or is this a tool more oriented to Real Estate Agents and Loan officers. Personally, I think the latter.

  • Share/Bookmark

Home equity loans

2010 September 4
by admin

Home equity Loan, also called Home Equitiy Line of Credit or HELOC, is money that is being borrowed against the equity of your home. Most mortgage lenders will require the borrower to pay only the interest of the loan and will have the option to repay the balance in increments sums. An important reason as to why a homeowner will choose a home equity loan is because he wants to cashout from the equity of his real estate. Cashing out from your real estate will have some restrictions such as LTV known as Loan to Value, mortgage lenders will make sure that the loan will not exceed the value of your real estate and, in most cases, will be much lower then the value.
The reason why mortgage lenders will loan normally up to 80% of the value is because they want to feel secure in ase of the loan gets defaulted. The way mortgage lenders calculate the LTV (loan to value) is as follow: The mortgage divided by the value of your real estate equals the percentage of your LTV. For example: You owe the bank $50,000 dlls.and the value of your home is $100,000 dlls. $50,000 divided by $100,000 = 50% LTV. The lower the loan to value, the higher is your cashout and lower your interest rate because the bank has less risk. Please refer to the chart below for a better understanding.

You owe $50,000
Home value is : $100,000

50,000 / 100,000 = 50% LOAN TO VALUE (LTV)

Why will the bank take the risk to lend you the money?

First of all, we all know that the only reason banks are in business is because people need money. So banks are in the business to lend money and not just to protect your money in a bank account.
Think about it: if you have a bank account all you get in return for depositing your money there is 1.5%. In most cases the bank will not even charge anything to keep your account active. Have you ever wonder why banks don’t charge you for this service? Financial institutions will not charge because they are using your money to lend other people for a much higher interest rate. For example: You deposited in your bank account $10,000 and the bank offered you 1.5% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) that is $150 that you have made in a year to have your money in their bank. Now the bank will take your $10,000 and will lend it to your neighbor across the street for an APR of 14% to 29%. In dollars we are looking at the bank profiting from your money anywhere from $1,400 to $2,900 a year. What do you think, are banks in the wrong business?

How do mortgage lenders qualify homeowners to a home equity loan, HELOC?

First of all, we already know that the banks will calculate the LTV (loan to value) and make sure the LTV is as low as it can get, the lower the LTV the better deal it is for the mortgage lender.
The second step the bank will take is to look at your credit. Since home equity loans have higher risk for the banks because they are in second position they would want to make sure that you intent to pay the loan back and not default on the loan eventually. Good credit for banks is not necessarily 750 and above Fico score, you can have a lower fico score such as 680 or 650 and sill qualify for a home equity loan. Mortgage lenders are looking for stability in payments and spending. If you have good history in spending and paying back creditors and mortgage lenders you will qualify.
Alsothe interest rate that you get will depend on your credit score. The third step, in my opinion, is the most important one, which is that the main requisite to get approved for any loan is your income. Mortgage lenders want to know that you will pay back the loan and the interest. So if your income is high enough to pay back the loan and pay some other debt you might have, plus some expenses, then you will qualify for a home equity loan.

How do mortgage lenders calculate if your income is good enough to qualify?

In order for mortgage lenders to qualify your income to support the loan they will calculate the Debt to income ratio also known as (DTI). Mortgage lenders will look at all your expenses and divide it by your income then they will know if you can qualify for the home equity loan. For example: Your expenses are $2,000 every month, including credit cards debt, home mortgage, auto loan, personal loan and some other expenses you have. Your total income is $6,000 a month. What they do is: they take your expenses $2,000 and divided it by your income $6,000.

Monthly debt is $2,000
Monthly Income is $6,000

$2.000 / $6,000 = 33% (DTI)

I believe that 33% is a good deal to the bank, they know that you have enough cushion to repay their home equity loan so you are fine. Most mortgage lenders will require at least 45% DTI.
Why you should consider a Home equity Loan, HELOC?

I think that I should ask you the same question. You are a homeowner and there was a reason why you chose to become own a home. Yes owning a home is what society sees as the “American Dream” but also to invest in yourself rather than paying someone else’s investments. Now that you’re a homeowner you really don’t need to have many credit cards just to have some spending money. Credit cards interest rates are too high and they will lead you to a much bigger debt than you even know. Credit cards interest rates are as high as 33% and your home equity loan will not exceed 8% these days. For example: you used your credit card and spend $5,000 with an interest rate of 33% and on your neighbor accross the street took a loan for the same amount of money, but he used his home by getting a home equity loan with an interest rate of 8%.
Here are the two scenarios: you will have to pay back $5,000 + $1,650 (33%) = $6,650 in total and your neighbor will pay back $5,000 + $400 (8%) = $5,400. Your neighbor saved $1,250 because he used his home to get the money at a lower interest rate. If you want to save money and enjoy your home equity do it, but always remember to get a good interest rate and not settle for less then what you desrve.

Scenario No 1.

Loan Amount $5,000
Interest Rate 33% (1,650)
Total Payback Amount $6.650

Scenario No. 2

Loan Amount $5,000
Interest Rate 8% (400)
Total Payback Amount $5,400

  • Share/Bookmark

North Finance Reviews

2010 August 22
by admin

North Finance has been on the market since 2001. North Finance addressed at Lymasol Cyprus; however, North Finance registered at Belize. Like two sides of coin, this forex broker has two different sides, bad and good side. North Finance’s good side is competitive spread, easy new account opening, small minimal capital, easy deposit and withdrawal operation, interesting leverage, free Meta trader trading platform, good customer support, bank guarantee, swap free policy, IB business opportunity, trading varieties. North Finance is not good at news matter, no news tab in this broker’s Meta trader, and busy server at news release.


In this forex broker, the spread is quite interesting; begin from 2 up to 10 pips in the news time and no commission. It is very easy to begin trading in North Finance, you can open account within 10 minutes from all over the world through the internet. The minimum capital to start forex trading in North Finance is $100; moreover, no minimal deposit and withdrawal at this forex broker, you also do not have to pay charge in deposit and withdrawal operation in North Finance. This forex broker accepts deposit via wire and electronic payment (e-gold). Credit leverage in this forex broker is very attractive, especially for low capital trader; begin from 1:1 up to 1:500.

This forex broker use Meta trader, instant execution and quotation system with eleven different languages. However, regrettably, North Finance’s Meta trader does not support news that is one of important factor in forex trading. North Finance also support mobile trading; you can download Meta trader mobile freely at this forex broker. North Finance is very good in customer support; you can access customer support 24 hours 5 business days lively on North Finance live chat.

Furthermore, this forex broker’s customer supports is very friendly and helpful. Not only good in customer support, this forex broker is also good in deposit and withdrawal operation time via e-gold. Deposit and withdrawal operation in this forex broker is very fast, almost finished in only five minutes. If you deposit $5000 or more at North Finance, you get free Visa Electron card that you can use to withdraw or shopping in any places in the world that have Visa Electron logo. You don’t have to worry putting your money at this forex broker; your deposit above $100,000 is bank guarantees. However, you have to becareful when trading in North Finance at big news is released, this forex broker’s server frequently very busy during big news time. North Finance has the good policy for Moslem trader; swap free for Moslem trader in this forex broker. This forex broker offers excellent opportunity to join a profitable business with them as IB (internet broker). North Finance has had IB forex brokers in more than twenty different countries, some of them are at Russia, China, Malaysia, South Africa, etc. In North Finance, you not only can trade forex, you also can trade CFD on futures, stocks, metals.

In conclusion, North Finance can be very considered as a good forex broker. This forex broker can be one of good choice when you decide to start forex trading.

This article originally taken from Find Trusted Forex Broker.

  • Share/Bookmark

Why Choose Purchase Order Finance?

2010 January 25
by admin

When a seller sells goods or services to a buyer, then the intent of the buyer to buy and the intent of the seller to sell, is written down in a commercial document, which is known as a purchase order or abbreviated as PO. The packing slips and the invoice are prepared based on the purchase order. Companies are usually keen to obtain purchase orders as in case of non-payment, or any disputes, the PO proves to be a valid document that can be produced in a court of law. Frequently a PO has been obtained from a creditworthy customer, but the company may be unable to fulfill it due to non-availability of funds at any given time. In such a situation, finance companies can fund the execution of the purchase order. This process is known as purchase order financing, and the fund thus obtained is known as purchase order finance or PO finance.


Purchase Order Finance summary:


Availability of funds. You get the funds necessary to execute the order and thereby honor your commitment. Your cash flow improves dramatically.

Various facilities. Many finance companies provide a receivables funding facility, which is linked to the purchase order finance facility. Funds are usually provided by making direct payments to your supplier, or by issuing a letter of credit, or by providing a supplier guarantee.

Direct payments to suppliers. Your suppliers are paid directly by the finance company. Typically up to 80% of the confirmed purchase cost can be paid. The remaining 20% minus the fees of the finance company are paid when your customer pays your invoice.

Issuing a Letter of Credit. Based on the provisions and governed by the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, finance companies or Banks back the commitment of payment to the supplier by issuing a Letter of Credit.

Supplier Guarantee. Leading financial companies provide a commitment of payment to suppliers. This supplier guarantee is grounded in the availability of funds generated from the accounts receivables facility.

Single or Multiple transactions can be made. Once you deliver the goods, which are accepted by your customer, and proof thereof has been obtained, then typically up to 85% of the amount of the invoice can be advanced to you immediately. This funding can facilitate the execution of other transactions. Thus multiple transactions can be made with confidence.

Local reach. The buyer or the supplier may be located anywhere in the United States of America. For local purchase order finance, some finance companies give up to 80% of the amount of the PO order.

Global reach. Leading finance companies have a global reach and they can also fund overseas purchase orders. For overseas PO financing, usually a Letter of Credit is opened. The PO finance is generally obtained from the funds that are generated from the financing of the accounts receivables.

Alistair Charles on behalf of Bibby Financial Services. Bibby Financial Services are experts in purchase order finance ( PO finance.)

  • Share/Bookmark

Personal Loan – Fulfill your Needs!

2010 January 25
by admin

Are you looking for loans to meet your personal needs? Do you want to avail loans to meet your various needs like debt consolidation, business updating or home improvement? Whatever be your need, the UK personal loans enable you to fulfill them. You can even go on a holiday or buy a car. UK personal loans are the right option for all your personal needs.

In the UK, personal loans are gaining immense popularity due to the fact that these loans cater to different requirements of variety of borrowers. Personal loans are basically those loans that are approved for any personal purpose like home improvements, buying a new or old car, paying for wedding and holiday expenses or even for debt consolidation.

The UK personal loans are available in two forms – secured and unsecured. Secured personal loans are approved against the borrower’s property which can be home or any valuable property. A borrower in UK can easily avail lower interest rate if he opts for a secured personal loan. Moreover, he can also choose a larger repayment duration which ranges up to 30 years.

Unsecured personal loans can be approved without collateral. This loan is risk free on part of the borrower. However, you would be approved a smaller amount ranging up to £25000 for 5 to 15 years of repaying duration.

Bad Credit Loans – Loans for All!

Are you having a tough time in getting a loan approved due to bad credit? You are not alone. There are scores of people facing a similar problem. Coming to your rescue are the bad credit loans which help you avail loans even with a bad credit. These loans help you avail loan for your various needs like payment defaults, arrears, late payments and county court judgments.

Due to growing competition among the lenders, bad credit personal loans in UK are now available to bad credit holders without any credit hurdles posed by the lenders. You can use these loans for any personal purpose like renovating your home, paying off debts, meeting wedding and holiday expenses, buying a new car and so on. These loans are available in both secured and unsecured form. You can even apply for a bad credit loan online if you want to get a faster approval.

Have you been planning to buy a car from a long time but due to shortage of funds haven’t been able to do so. We provide an ideal solution for your problems. Avail our auto car loans at the best rates and walk out with your dream car! While searching for an auto loan you should research on financing companies, negotiate terms, and increase your down payment to get low rates. It is only by requesting quotes and comparing the fine print can you truly know you are getting the lowest rate.

You can even apply online for a auto car loan if you want to avoid delays and lengthy procedures in getting the loan approved. Online auto car loans are not only approved fast but also are easily available.

Content Developer for finance sites. For more information visit on: Immediate Instant Personal Loan UK

  • Share/Bookmark

Powered by Yahoo! Answers