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Reading the news for the last two weeks you would either think the government has the credit crisis in control after hitting its 500,000 trial loan modifications or that there is no hope after seeing the rise in prime mortgage foreclosures and the rise in unemployment.

The truth is that nobody really knows what is going on right now in the economic arena. Last week Citigroup lowered their “emergency fund” for bad or non performing loans which surprised analysts that fail to find evidence of an improvement of credit payment ability.
Loan modifications can be a great solution for some. For others it is not a possibility or simple will setback the inevitable with hard earned tax dollars.

Loan modifications are not for everybody because loan modifications can only “attack” certain causes of high loan payments, namely high interest rates, length of tenure, interest stability  and principal payment structure.

This means that if you already have a long mortgage (30 or 40 years), it is a fixed mortgage (as opposed the a variable or ATM mortgage) and low interest rates there is not much a loan modification can do for you because you already have a “good deal”.
All is not lost though. There is one option left open for you that might just be the difference between foreclosure and saving your home, and that is balloon payments.

What is a balloon payment?

Balloon payments are a kind of interest break your mortgage provider gives you so your monthly interest payments are not so high. Let’s explain with a simple example. Imagine you owe your bank $100,000 your interest rate is around 3% which means you will pay around (probably a little less)  $3,000 interest the first year. However what your bank or mortgage provider can do in order to lower your interest payments and therefore your mortgage payment is defer a portion of your principal to the end of the mortgage “forgiving” the interest on this amount until the end of the mortgage. Going back to our little example, your bank might defer $20,000 leaving you with “only” $80,000 to pay for, dropping your first year interest payments by over $600. We have oversimplified this example heavily, but you get the idea.

The only catch with this option is that you are leaving yourself a lot of principal to pay till the end of your mortgage. If you are planning to sell your home in the near future this might not be a problem. But if you want to keep it long term you are going to have to find the way to pay the “balloon payment” once your mortgage tenure is over.

Balloon payments can be used as yet another tool to reduce your monthly payments by combining it with other options that might be open to you. Research all your options and contact an expert. Experts will not cost you money because the government is providing the best advice for free.

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1. Creative Ways a Loan Modification Lowers Your Monthly Payments
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1. Creative Ways a Loan Modification Lowers Your Monthly Payments
2. Are mortgage modifications cost effective
3. Loan Modifications, The Truth Behind The Spin

Amortization is a term associated with mortgage loans and is mainly used in relation to loan repayments. Technically defined, amortization is an accounting method in which expenses are accounted for over the useful life of the asset rather than at the time they are incurred. Amortization is similar to depreciation in that the value of the liability (or asset) is reduced over time. Simplified in terms of a mortgage, amortization is a payment each month that combines both interest and the principal amount and is paid over a specific period of time. The concept of amortization can seem complex and understanding the process is essential to becoming an informed borrower.

The simplest way to explain the difference between amortization and depreciation is understand the type of the financial events that they are associated with. Depreciation is a term used to define an asset (cash or non-cash) that loses value over time. Mortgage amortization is the periodic reduction of the principal balance of a home mortgage that is usually fixed in the terms of the loan.

For the purposes of a home mortgage, amortization is the reduction of the principal or capital on a loan over a specified time and at a specified interest rate. Interest is the fee paid by the borrower to reimburse the lender for the use of credit or currency. At the beginning of the amortization schedule a greater amount of the payment is applied to interest, while more money is applied to principal at the end. In other words, a borrower will start out paying mostly interest and in the end the majority of the monthly payment goes toward cutting down the actual loan amount.

A mortgage is amortized when it is repaid with periodic payments over a defined term. The goal is for the mortgage to be fully amortized, an elaborate way of saying paid off, at the end of the term of the loan. As more and more of the principal is paid down, the interest declines, leading to greater mortgage amortization in the later years of the loan and a subsequent increase in the borrower’s equity in the property.

One thing to consider when taking out a mortgage is the amount of money which will be paid out over the life of the loan. A mortgage calculator which provides an estimate of monthly payments and amortizations can make it easier to see the entire schedule and impact to the borrower. Negative amortization, which can occur in financing instruments like a balloon loan, exists when the monthly mortgage payment is not big enough to cover the full amount of interest due.

The process of amortization is an easy one to understand once you know the basics and get the idea of how it all works. Mortgage amortization, as used in real estate, is when the principal balance on a mortgage is reduced over time as the home owner makes monthly payments. Amortization describes the process of paying off a loan in regular, typically monthly, installments. As a general rule, amortization is desirable, because if a mortgage is not amortizing, it means that the borrower is not making any headway on the loan.