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Too much credit, struggling credit payments, high debt to income ratio all affects a person’s credit rating or FICO score. FICO stands for Fair Isaac Credit Organization and is a score reflecting a person’s credit worthiness.

When we talk about home equity refinancing, we usually talk about lower interest rates, tax deductions to save the homeowner cash and paying off the debt immediately to raise your credit score. Home mortgage interest is also tax deductible saving the homeowner extra cash every year.

But people sometime forget a person’s debt to income ratio also could negatively affect a FICO score. Even if you make the minimum monthly payment every month and your payment history is perfectsome banks could still shy away from loaning to you because of a low FICO score caused by debt to income ratio.

US News and World Report shows the following guideline for debt to income ratio.

Since the demise of the stock market in 2000, the real estate market has been booming. Investors who are justifiably cautious about investing in stocks have been investing in homes. This has driven the prices of homes in the United States to record levels. Long-time homeowners are discovering that they have a tremendous amount of equity in their homes as the values rise, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The past five years have been good to homeowners and lenders. Unfortunately, the past five years have also been good to equity thieves, who are using identity theft to steal the equity from homes, often without the homeowner’s knowledge.

As the median value of a home in the United States is currently a little more than $200,000, there is plenty of incentive for the equity thief. The scam is relatively simple and usually involves homes that are completely paid off. The thief obtains a copy of the homeowner’s Social Security number and a fake driver’s license in the homeowner’s name. Using this fake identification, the thief forges a quitclaim deed, a document transfers a homeowner’s interest in a property to a third party. The document says, in essence, “I don’t want this property anymore.” The property can then be transferred to anyone the thief chooses. Once the transfer has taken place, the thief applies for a home equity loan, takes the money, and simply walks away. In an alternate scenario, the thief simply sells the house and pockets the money. As most agencies involved in real estate transactions are quite busy these days, property transfers of this type can often be accomplished without drawing undue attention.

This is just one of many scams that have sprung up in recent years involving real estate. While the authorities are certainly interested in catching the thieves, such cases quickly become rather complicated and few police departments have the necessary expertise required to deal with these cases, since they are fairly new. More often than not, the homeowner has little recourse other than to sue the mortgage company involved in the transaction. The best defense against a possible identity theft/equity theft scam is to protect your identity carefully and to avoid giving anyone your Social Security number if you can possibly avoid it. Failing to do so could cost you your home.

©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a Website devoted to debt consolidation information and HomeEquityHelp.net, a site devoted to information on home equity loans.

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Many a homeowner has seriously contemplated getting a cash-out refinance loan with the hopes of landing a lower rate, saving up to $300 smacks a month and getting some cash in hand to spend as ones pleases. Who wouldn’t want to lower their current home mortgage rate, save on monthly interest rate charges and have cash to pocket for immediate purchases, home remodeling, or purchasing a new car? Fact is most of us might think we’re putting ourselves in a better position by getting more of the things we need and want. But that would depend largely on what we’re actually doing with the cash in hand and the monthly mortgage payments savings wouldn’t it?

Most would admit that getting what you want is not half as important as building a nest egg. Others strongly believe that building wealth is essential. The fact is doing what you can to live a fairly stable and secure life is what making and saving money is supposed to be all about. Yet the average amount of credit card debt per household is close to $10000 with many families as much as 40-50,000 in debts. Most families cannot come up with that kind of money over a ten-year period. The saddest aspect of this scenario is that most don’t realize that whenever they have an amount of money charged on their credit card what they are actually doing is borrowing money with the promise of paying it back later. That promise comes with an additional charge of fees and interest.

Therefore the average credit card holder is borrowing money on a weekly basis. It has to be said that borrowing money has become a daily part of life for many households. So how can you get out of credit card debt, maintain a nest egg and commence building wealth at the same time? The key to getting out of debt and building wealth is three-fold.

1. Stop borrowing money so often.
2. Save money when borrowing.
3. If you must borrow money build wealth with some it.

Paying Off Credit Card Debt

Paying off credit card debt is not something to procrastinate with. The sooner it’s done the less money you’ll lose and more you’ll have to save. One way to payoff credit card debt is with a home equity loan or cash out home refinance loan. When many refinance with the cash out option the tendency is to spend the cash. Some have even had the thought that paying off debts, saving and or investing the funds breaks the rules of getting cash back when refinancing. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Let’s say you opt for the cash out refinance program now being offered by most mortgage lenders. Cash out home loan refinancing allows you to refinance your mortgage for more than you owe and then pocket the difference in the form of cash. This can be ideal for paying off credit card debt, funding college education, investing in a thriving market or pursuing a practical business venture. You use the cash as you wish.

How Does Cash Out Home Refinancing Work?

A site designed to help consumers and low rate shoppers access low rate loan shopping resources, http://www.refinanceloanrates.fimark.net sites an example: “You currently owe $90,000 on a home that’s valued at $160,000. You are seeking to lower the interest rate. You also want $20,000 in pocketable cash. You refinance the mortgage for $110,000. This leaves you with a lower rate on the balance you owe on the house, and you pocket $20,000 cash to use as you wish.”

The lower rate translates into monthly savings of up to $300 per month depending on the actual rate reduction and size of the mortgage. Now the questions is are you actually deeper in debt or have you beat the odds with respect to savings. It goes without saying you do now have a debt you owe. If you must borrow against your house, which is a risk in itself, by all means make some of that cash work for you. What you do with the $300 you save and the $20,000 in cash you’ve pocketed makes all the difference.

Wealth Building When Refinancing

Savings is not the whole advantage when refinancing. It’s how you use the savings that counts. If you were able to save $65 per month and received interest on it (of just 6.5%), over 30 years (the length of most people’s loans) you would have been able to build over $70,000 in wealth. That said refinance savings can give you the leverage you need to meet and exceed your financial goals.

Wealth Building Ideas When Refinancing

1. Invest in real estate property (get the grants - tax advantages and all the perks to go)

2. Start a simple but lucrative small business (low overhead essential) with a view to seeing a 300% return on your investments

3. Invest in your education - get another degree or some form of certification and see a 200% increase in your income potential

4. Invest in stocks - (buy low sell high)

5. Remember that many forms of investment, self and home improvement come with tax deduction advantages.

How much can you save when refinancing. Using a saving definitive calculator will give you the answer you’re looking for. A Refinance Savings Calculator, will help you to decide whether or not you should refinance your current mortgage at a lower interest rate. Show you how much you’ll save monthly, annually and over the life of the loan.

Some refinancing savings calculator will tell you at what point in payments you break even given the cost of refinancing. Mortgage Loan Search lists useful calculation tools at http://www.bcpl.net/~ibcnet/refinance-savings-calculators.html The site features a Refinance Savings Calculator features advise regarding breaking even and savings in its calculation results.

Mark Askew is the founder of the Mortgage Loan Search Financial Network found at http://www.bcpl.net/~ibcnet

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