Home Equity Loan

Equity Stripping

You need money. You don’t have much income coming in each month. You have built up equity in your home. A lender tells you that you could get a loan, even though you know your income is just not enough to keep up with the monthly payments. The lender encourages you to “pad” your income on your application form to help get the loan approved.
This lender may be out to steal the equity you have built up in your home. The lender doesn’t care if you can’t keep up with the monthly payments. As soon as you don’t, the lender will foreclose — taking your home and stripping you of the equity you have spent years building. If you take out a loan but don’t have enough income to make the monthly payments, you are being set up. You probably will lose your home.

Hidden Loan Terms:
The Balloon Payment
You’ve fallen behind in your mortgage payments and may face foreclosure. Another lender offers to save you from foreclosure by refinancing your mortgage and lowering your monthly payments. Look carefully at the loan terms. The payments may be lower because the lender is offering a loan on which you repay only the interest each month. At the end of the loan term, the principal — that is, the entire amount that you borrowed — is due in one lump sum called a balloon payment. If you can’t make the balloon payment or refinance, you face foreclosure and the loss of your home.