An Adjustable Rate Mortgage, called an ARM for short, is a mortgage with an interest rate that is linked to an economic index. The interest rate, and your payments, are periodically adjusted up or down as the index changes. These loans can be a disaster for homeowners either strapped with overwhelming mortgage payments or other bills which have risen and are having trouble keeping up. The loss of a job, injury or disability can also reek havoc for some homeowners with rates that are adjusting higher. GUARANTEED LOAN HELP.com can help and has been so successful, that other National organizations are starting to take notice.
America's five-year real estate boom was fueled partly by a tempting array of cut-rate mortgages that helped millions of Americans qualify for home or refinance loans. To afford soaring home prices, many turned to adjustable-rate and other, riskier loans with low initial payments. The homeownership rate hit a record 70%. Now, the real estate market is cooling, interest rates are rising and tens of thousands more Americans are starting to have trouble paying their mortgages. Nearly 25% of mortgages — 10 million — carry adjustable interest rates. And most of them went to people with sub-par credit ratings who accepted higher interest rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The number of borrowers in trouble will rise this year and peak in 2007 and 2008 as the largest number of mortgages reset to higher rates, according to First American Real Estate Solutions, a real estate data provider. Most of those foreclosures are related to job losses in auto and garment factories; higher mortgage payments were often the last straw. Of the 7.7 million households who took out ARMs over the past two years to buy or refinance, up to 1 million could lose their homes through foreclosure over the next five years because they won't be able to afford their mortgage payments, and their homes will be worth less than they owe, according to Cagan's research. The losses to the banking industry, he estimates, will exceed $100 billion. That's less than the damage from the savings-and-loan crisis in the 1990s, which cost the country $150 billion. "It will sting the economy, but it won't break it," he says.
The number of borrowers in trouble will rise this year and peak in 2007 and 2008 as the largest number of mortgages reset to higher rates, according to First American Real Estate Solutions, a real estate data provider. Most of those foreclosures are related to job losses in auto and garment factories; higher mortgage payments were often the last straw. Of the 7.7 million households who took out ARMs over the past two years to buy or refinance, up to 1 million could lose their homes through foreclosure over the next five years because they won't be able to afford their mortgage payments, and their homes will be worth less than they owe, according to Cagan's research. The losses to the banking industry, he estimates, will exceed $100 billion. That's less than the damage from the savings-and-loan crisis in the 1990s, which cost the country $150 billion. "It will sting the economy, but it won't break it," he says.In the New York area, credit and mortgage experts, Guaranteed Loan Help.com say 45% of their new members are now related to ARM or interest-only loans. The volume jumped after January, as holiday credit card bills, higher gas bills and rising mortgage payments hit some borrowers at the same time.
Banking regulators are concerned about risky loans made to people with precarious finances or those who didn't understand the complex terms and the peril they could face if interest rates rose. In December, regulators proposed new guidelines for mortgage lenders to crack down on loose lending practices. The rules would require better risk disclosure and a fuller analysis of the borrowers' ability to repay the loan through maturity — and at the highest rates allowed under the loan terms. Bank trade groups complained that concerns were overblown. "We do not believe it is appropriate or possible for the lender to dictate the best mortgage products for individual consumers,"
America's Community Bankers responded. No matter what the final guidelines say, they will be too late to help people such as Lisa Conners. She got into trouble after she took out an equity line of credit on her home in Lilly, NM., to pay off her car and other bills. As a single mother with total income of $37,000 a year, including child support, she never would have been able to qualify for the $52,000 line of credit from a conservative lender. That line of credit, when added to the balance on her fixed-rate mortgage, totaled $10,000 more than her home was worth. The monthly payments for the equity line have more than doubled in four years, to about $400. (She also has a $700-a-month mortgage and hefty credit card bills.) "I can pay it, but I have nothing left over to eat," says Conners, a analyst for a computer company. "I'm going to lose my house."
There are few resources to help homeowners in dire financial straits, but there are some. GUARANTEED LOAN HELP offers and lender and mortgage renegotiations. New members can sign on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are other national non-profits that supports homeownership and financial literacy, but help could be very slow as the workers are volunteers.
Marissa Rozwell is one of their success stories. She refinanced her loan in 2007. Rozwell, 38, is a U.S. postal worker who's living on a tight budget. She agreed to an ARM that reset every six months. She kept up with her payments on her house on the southeast side of Chicago until last April, after her Son, who was helping her pay the mortgage, lost his job. Last week, Rozwell refinanced her home with the help of GUARANTEED LOAN HELP. She got a 6.2%, fixed-rate loan, plus a grant to help make long-neglected repairs. “If it wasn't’t for GUARANTEED LOAN HELP.com I don’t know where I’d be today“, "I’m getting all choked up… They saved us from losing this home” she said. “They were so fast too”, she added. Sounds like the folks at GUARANTEED LOAN HELP are gaining some great fans these days.