See: Mortgage.
You originally took a 30-year mortgage worth $400,000 (the house you bought cost $500,000...but you had recently won $100,000 in the lotto and used that as a down payment). Now, it’s 15 years later. Mortgage rates remain low and you’ve built up some equity in your home. However, the rest of your finances are kind of a mess.
You owe money on two cars you can’t really afford, you still have student loans for those three semesters you spent at clown college, plus you maxed out your credit cards with last summer’s trip to Aruba.
Time for a mortgage equity withdrawal. This process, usually actuated through refinancing or as a home equity loan, allows you to borrow against your accumulated home equity to raise cash for other reasons.
You conduct a refinancing. Your original mortgage was for $400,000 (you bought a $500,000 house with $100,000 down and took a mortgage to pay the rest). Over the past 15 years, you built up $150,000 in equity, meaning that you paid back $150,000 of the $400,000 you originally borrowed. Now, you're going to take out that $150,000 as part of this mortgage equity withdrawal process. So, when the paperwork is done, you'll once again have a 30-year mortgage with $400,000 to pay back. But you'll also have $150,000 in cash...the amount you got for cashing in your accumulated equity.
You can use that money to pay off your higher-rate debt. Also, there's an extra tax bonus from using the mortgage equity withdrawal to pay off other loans. The interest paid on a home loan is tax deductible. That's not true for most other loans...a car loan, for instance, is not tax-deductible. So, by using a refinancing to pay off other bills, you end up paying lower interest on the money borrowed, and getting to save on your taxes, as opposed to if you were using some other form of loan to get the cash.
Meanwhile, if interest rates remain similar to when you got your initial mortgage, your monthly payments might not change much. You just have to start from scratch paying off the new mortgage. You had 15 years left...after the refinancing, you're back to 30.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is Interest Only Mortgage?17 Views
Finance allah shmoop what is an interest only mortgage Well
simply put it's when you only pay the rent on
the dough you borrowed you don't pay down the principal
you owe like if you have a three hundred thousand
dollars mortgage at six percent interest you're paying eighteen grand
a year to rent that money in six percent times
three hundred rands eighteen grand a year But the principal
you borrowed is likely due in thirty years So in
theory anyway if it were a normal mortgage you'd want
to pay down the principal little bit a month as
you go along like averaging ten grand a year in
principle pay down over thirty years That's times ten grand
right three hundred grand their total owning your home at
the end yeah yeah priceless that's what holmes work So
why would you want an interest only mortgage Well for
one thing the monthly payments or less so maybe you
could afford morehouse If on a thirty year three hundred
thousand dollar loan at six percent you're paying interest only
while you're writing a check each month for eighteen thousand
divided by twelve or fifteen hundred bucks maybe that's all
You can afford well the extra five hundred bucks arm
or you'd right toe pay down your principles Just not
something you can really do right now Maybe after three
years of scrimping and saving well you'll be able to
start paying down that principal reducing risk and making life
easier all the way around But right now you can't
afford it so the only thing you can do is
do the interest only dance Well the other reason you
might want an interest only mortgages that interest costs are
tax deductible Principal pay down costs are not so if
in a given mortgage payment of say eighteen hundred bucks
a month where three hundred of it is principal pay
down and fifteen hundred of it is interest well on
ly the fifteen hundred is tax deductible That three hundred
of pay down is not And if you're a forty
percent taxpayer the government is essentially picking up the tax
savings on the fifteen hundred times a forty percent at
six hundred dollars in interest You're paying such that they
quote feel unquote like the fifteen hundred is really only
about nine hundred a month in cost to you the
three hundred bucks and principal paydown feels like a full
three hundred dollars So some people seeking tio optimize their
tax deductions live in the world of interest only mortgages
and let the government for a change You know work 00:02:26.24 --> [endTime] for them How's that feel same all Take it
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