Friday, January 02, 2009

Saving Cash on Your Mortgage

Of course you want to save as much money on your mortgage as you can. The interest rate has a lot to do with how much it will cost you to finance the amount of money you borrow to buy a home. Shop around for interest rates among the various mortgage lenders before you actually submit a loan application. Most lenders have a free mortgage calculator available on their websites so you can experiment with this in entering the amount your wish to borrow and exploring various repayment options to determine your lowest payment and the best repayment terms.

The term you choose for the repayment of your mortgage will also influence how much it will cost you to borrow the money you need. By choosing a short term, you will not pay as much money in interest charges over the life of the mortgage. Another option for cutting years off your mortgage repayment is to choose bi-weekly payments. You make a payment every two weeks and although this means you make two extra payments a year, you will save on the amount of interest that you pay in total

If the interest rates are high at the time you take out the mortgage, choose a variable rate mortgage for a short term. In this way, when the interest rates go down, you can then lock in at a fixed rate for a specific term and know that your monthly payments will remain the same for that length of time. Opt for a mortgage that allows you to make extra payments once or twice a year. In such a plan, you can make a repayment of any amount in addition to your regular mortgage payment to cut down on your outstanding balance and therefore the amount of interest you pay in subsequent months.

Placing a deposit on your mortgage will also help to reduce your overall costs. The bigger the down payment you make, the less money you will have to borrow. This can make the difference in getting a lower rate of interest on the loan as well. The arrangement fee will likely remain the same. When you have the deposit required by the lender, you do not need to have extra insurance cover on the mortgage which in cuts back on the costs. You should also check to make sure the lender has a set amount for arrangement fees. Fees that involve a percentage of the mortgage amount can add to the cost of borrowing

The cost of getting a mortgage also includes the arrangement fees, such as the legal fees, city taxes and administration fees. If possible try to pay these fees yourself outside of the loan. Lenders will offer you the option of having them added to your mortgage to save you money, but there is no savings involved if you do so. It not only increases the amount of money you owe, it increases the interest you pay on the mortgage as well

Consider different repayment options to cut down on the amount of money you pay in interest. Choosing a bi-weekly payment plan, for example, will cut years off the term of the mortgage in the two extra payments you make each year. You make the payments every two weeks so that instead of paying the interest based on the outstanding balance each month, you can have two reductions in your interest