Mortgage & Refinancing Information

What is a Flexible Mortgage?


'Flexible mortgage' is a term that's used a lot, but what exactly does it mean? A flexible mortgage allows the borrower to make extra repayments when they have the extra money and even reduce or skip payments should the need arise.

A flexible mortgage allows you to make extra payments to reduce the amount outstanding on your mortgage thereby reducing the interest you're paying or pay off your mortgage earlier than planned.

Imagine being able to save money in mortgage interest, or borrowing enough money pay off your credit cards or personal loans, or buy a new car at a low rate of interest. That's exactly what flexible mortgages enable you to do.

Flexible mortgages allow you to save money by cutting the length of your mortgage term. You can also buy yourself more time when money is tight by reducing your monthly repayments or increase you mortgage if you need to borrow money.

'Flexible mortgages', also known as 'Australian mortgages' are fast becoming the most popular way of taking out a new mortgage.

Flexible mortgages are designed for people who want the option to vary their mortgage payments to match changes in their cash flow. To varying degrees, they let you underpay, overpay, take payment holidays, pay off lump sums and borrow back overpayments.

Flexible mortgages come in various guises but they mainly allow you to make extra lump sum payments, borrow back money, allow you to take repayment holidays and also allow you to make underpayments. Some flexible mortgages will double up as a current account, where your salary is paid in monthly and so you are in effect paying off a huge overdraft.

Unlike some traditional loans that still charge mortgage interest on an annual basis, fully flexible mortgages calculate interest daily, which means that any overpayments you make are immediately credited against your loan, thus reducing your interest costs. This gives you the flexibility to manage your mortgage payments to suit your cash flow needs as your circumstances change.

A Flexible Mortgage allows you to repay capital early, take back some cash you have paid in and postpone payments. Some are run as substitutes for current and savings accounts, so all your money is working to minimise interest on the mortgage.

If you are looking for flexibility in the current mortgage market, there are two important facts to bear in mind. First, the majority of flexible mortgages tend to charge higher rates than those available on more conventional mortgage deals.

Secondly, there is little difference between mortgages marketed as fully flexible and conventional mortgages which are offering an increasing number of flexible features. So unless you want to use the full range of features offered by a flexible mortgage, you may find the level of flexibility you are after on a conventional deal at a much better rate.

Generally you can choose to have a variable or discounted rate or sometimes a combination a variable and fixed rate. By choosing to take part of your mortgage at the fixed rate allows you the flexibility to make overpayments to the variable rate option during the fixed rate period without any penalties.

A truly flexible mortgage should have all of the following options:

Interest is calculated at least monthly, preferably daily.

Overpayments are allowed penalty free.

You can take payment holidays.

You can make underpayments.

You can draw down any unused facility.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author's biography remains intact:

About The Author

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.


MORE RESOURCES:

Washington Times

Is It Time To Refinance Your Mortgage?
Forbes, NY - 23 hours ago
Falling rates and a friendly Fed mean good things for homeowners. But there's a catch. Looking to refinance your mortgage? Do it now. ...
Mortgage Rates At 37- Year Low WHIZ
Refinancing suddenly booms Honolulu Advertiser
all 30 news articles


Cardoza proposal could aid housing crisis
Stockton Record, CA - 15 hours ago
By Bruce Spence Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, has a plan to reverse the housing crisis and boost the economy: a 4 percent interest rate on fixed-rate, ...


Waco banks seeing a boom in mortgage refinance applications
Waco Tribune Herald, TX - Jan 2, 2009
By Mike Copeland With mortgage rates hitting record lows, Mary Jo Teakell is seeing a growing backlog of refinance applications. “We’re quite busy right now ...
Borrowers seeking to refinance may face challenges WTOP
all 15 news articles


Situations determine refinancing
FayObserver.com, NC - Jan 7, 2009
By Hilary Kraus It depends on your situation. How much do you still owe? How long do you expect to stay in your home? Are lower payments a priority? ...


Mortgage Refinance Loans
Kitchener, Ontario Canada, Canada - Dec 31, 2008
The City of Kitchener is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. ...


St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mortgage Refinance Online
PWO, France - Dec 17, 2008
If you want to consolidate debt or get cash to pay for home improvements, you can apply for a mortgage refinance online that offers you a cash back option, ...
Video: Record low mortgage rates ReutersVideo
Mortgage Rate Hits 37-Year Low Wall Street Journal
all 864 news articles


Bad Credit Mortgage Refinance Loan- 3 Most Important Items to Get ...
CrunchGear, NY - Dec 23, 2008
Ultimately if you are looking to do a bad credit mortgage refinance loan you need to keep several things in mind to ensure that you don’t get taken for a ...


TopNews

Question & Answer on mortgage refinancing
Boston Herald, United States - Jan 1, 2009
By Holden Lewis / Bankrate.Com With mortgage rates at historic lows, lots of homeowners are debating whether to refinance their mortgages these days. ...
Don't miss the mortgage refinance window Barre Montpelier Times Argus
Applications Show Refi Wear-Out? Housing Wire
A toast to low mortgage rates MarketWatch
all 457 news articles


Are points a good buy on refinancings right now?
WalletPop, VA - Jan 5, 2009
During the housing boom, my wife and I probably got at least a dozen solicitations a month from banks wanting us to refinance our mortgage or borrow against ...


Falling interest rates create surge
Schenectady Gazette, NY - Dec 24, 2008
By James Schlett (Contact) ROTTERDAM — The past week has been something of a renaissance for Stan Len, a mortgage broker with Adirondack Home Mortgage. ...
Video: Money Minute: Holiday Spending, Mortgages AssociatedPress
Refi madness CNN
Q4 Consumer Spending Could Be Better Than Q3, But Weakness Will ... FXstreet.com The Foreign Exchange Market
Reuters
all 497 news articles

Mortgage-Refinance - Google News

home | site map
© 2006