Saturday, March 14, 2009 

The Pros & Cons Of Using Home Equity Loans For Debt Reduction

Home equity loans are a common way of refinancing debt. Because the value of most people's homes has increased considerably over the past several years, they often have quite a bit of equity they can use for debt reduction. While it has many advantages, there are some things that you need to consider before using the equity in your home.

First, an explanation of what a home equity loan really is. It's basically a loan or a line of credit that is secured by the equity you have in your home. For example, if your home is worth $250,000 and you owe $125,000 on your mortgage, your equity is $125,000. You can borrow by using this equity as security.

Probably the most common way to use the equity in your home is through a HELOC - Home Equity Line Of Credit. These credit lines were originally created to finance improvements to the home itself, but over the years they have come to be useful for other things as well, such as refinancing high interest debt such as credit cards.

The interest on most loans is not tax deductible, but interest paid on a home loan is. Because of this, there can be tax advantages that make this a cheaper type of debt than many others.

HELOCs are normally set up as a line of credit that can be drawn upon as you need it - much like a credit card. You do not receive a lump sum payment for the full amount when the loan is established. This lets you borrow only what you need, keeping your interest as low as possible.

It's important to remember, however, that a home equity loan is still a loan. You're still borrowing money and paying interest on what you use. If debt reduction is one of the reasons for getting a home equity loan, you need to ask yourself whether a lack of willpower over your spending contributed to the debt in the first place.

If so, having a line of credit at your disposal may create even more temptation to spend, making the problem worse rather than better.

If you are responsible in your spending, however, a home equity loan is one of the most effective ways to pay down high-interest debt.

Before you take out a home loan, it's a good idea to compare the long-term cost against what you would spend by continuing to pay credit card payments. Make sure that your total cost is going to be better with a home equity loan than it would by continuing to pay the credit cards directly.

William Blake offers debt elimination advice on the Debtopedia website. For more helpful tips and information about how to deal with debt, visit http://www.debtopedia.com

 

Buy Used Car Tips

To buy used car is a great idea for saving money. Everyone knows that a new car lost 65% of its value in the first 5 years. But the case would be more extreme for a 1 to 2 years old car, it will lost its value 30-40%.

If you don't mind to drive a used car (I mean a 2 to 5 years old car, it looks pretty new) rather than a new car, you may save much money to pay many other bills. If you want to keep the car not too old, you may resell it after driving for 2 to 3 years and buy another newer one. The value of the car will only drop 15% or less for a 5 years old car. Therefore, your driving cost for 2-3 years would only be 10-15% of the car's original value.

The price quote above was only the price you buy from an ordinary car dealer. However, you can buy it much cheaper online.

Before entering the dealership

Before you step foot on a dealership lot, there are several things you need to think about, including what type of vehicle you can afford, what type of car is right for you, and what your credit history consists of.

Once you decide on type of car you need it is time to do your research to narrow down the choices. A number of resources on this site can provide you comparison information rating the vehicles within specific categories. Compare such areas as safety, reliability, fuel economy, warranties, operating costs, theft rates, general features, and options when making you decision.

How to achieve the best used car price?

Don't buy the first thing you see, or in this case don't believe them when they say that they are the ones with the lowest new car and used car prices, they have to say that, it's their tactics! Be smart and don't enter the dealership without visiting some of these sites Cars.com, InvoiceDealers, Autoweb, Car.com, CarsDirect, Ford Direct and AutoUSA. Find out how much you can buy used car for and then go to your car dealer and let the games begin, of course on your terms! Don't be a dumb buyer as you are expected to be, do your homework if you want to buy used car at the lowest price possible! And one more thing, don't hesitate to buy used car online if your new car purchase quote from CarsDirect is lower than the car dealer. Click buy and they will let you know what is the next step, and in a few days your new car will arrive, and you saved your money and precious time!

There are many ways to buy car but only one is right!

A car dealer isn't your only option - Online car purchase will save you time and money!

This is the best car purchase option you will ever find, because you will find everything you need to buy used car from the comfort of your home. The whole buy used car process can be done online if you know the right way, but we are here to show you how and where. Online you can find and choose your dream car, find specification options, finance options, delivery details, extended warranty, carfax record check,auto loan approval, your credit score and much more.

Auto Purchase Tips - Auto purchase guide covers new and used vehicles, financing and negotiating with car dealers.