For a small number of homeowners, the mortgage crisis has created the “perfect storm”: rates have dropped significantly but their HELOC limits have stayed the same. For those who have a home equity line of credit with a limit exceeding the principle owed on their original home loan, it can be tempting to pay of [...] [...more]
Good news for HELOC borrowers – thanks to an emergency federal rate cut, your home equity bill may be getting smaller. Today, the government slashed the federal funds rate by half a percentage point. The New York Times reports: “The Fed said in a statement that, because of weakening economic activity, it had cut the [...] [...more]
Home equity line customers may soon be enjoying a decreased interest rate, if market rumors come to fruition. The Associated Press reports: “Many believe the Fed will ratchet down a key lending rate to banks — now at 2 percent. In turn, the prime lending rate — now at 5 percent — for certain credit [...] [...more]
Interest on home equity lines of credit are extremely low right now, even when compared to traditional home loans. Some financial advisers say that borrowers should consider taking out a HELOC rather than doing a traditional refinance if they want to save on withdrawing equity. CNN Money reports: “HELOCs can be hard to get right [...] [...more]
Earlier today the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate a quarter of a point, from 2.25 to 2. The prime rate, used to determine the majority of HELOC interest rates, generally mimics the federal funds rate. So, HELOC customers may see a slight interest reduction in their future statements. Some analysts speculate that this [...] [...more]
According to MarketWatch, the recent federal cuts have resulted in lower rates for HELOC customers. Financial columnist Chuck Jaffe notes that home equity lines are the one place that consumers are actually seeing a difference: “BankRate.com pegs the rate on a $30,000 home-equity line of credit at 5.52%, on average, down sharply from a week [...] [...more]
According to the Wall Street Journal, home equity rates have been falling steadily for the past 6 months and may fall further based on yesterday’s federal rate cuts: Rates on home-equity lines of credit have dropped to 6.27% from 8.25% since September of last year, according to Bankrate.com. Partly as a result, the amount that [...] [...more]
Earlier today, the Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds interest rates by 3/4 of a percentage point. This has been the 6th rate cut in the past 6 months. The New York Times Reports: “Though it was one of the biggest one-day rate cuts in decades, investors had been betting heavily that the Fed would [...] [...more]
Some borrowers mistakenly believe that federal rate cuts have a direct affect on their HELOC interest payments. In reality, federal rate cuts are a move by the government meant to promote economic stimulus. These federal cuts may act as an incentive for banks to lower their own interest rates, but this is not always the [...] [...more]
