Banks and Housing Loans

The great American comedian, Bob Hope, said in a deadpan voice, “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” A recent news report said that more companies, mostly small and not-so-small scale property developers, would fold up because the economic situation is beginning to look bright. Banks are starting to cut their losses and the prevailing attitude is “to look and see what will happen next”. Since these companies have other lenders besides the banks, banks are looking at the bad loans figures. The big banks are not worried at their home lending shares because, until the house is fully paid, they have their hands on the deeds of the houses. However, for homeowners, especially those with grants from the Government, they could experience an increase in the interest rates of up to one percent in the next 12 months. When these happens, people would further tighten their slashed budgets or even take on bad credit cash loans if they have financial emergencies that are outside their budgets.

However, for those who are already midway in paying for their dream house when the financial crisis slammed on Wall Street and the crash reverberated around the world, these people are now struggling to pay their mortgages. One drastic option is to apply for a bankruptcy housing loan. This loan is quite difficult to obtain, unlike personal loans online that usually have minimal requirements. But for a bankruptcy housing loan, the borrower must follow very strict requirements and high interest rates and fees. Borrowers should expect a smaller loan amount, compared to other kinds of loans. And, like applying for any kind of loan, it would be better if the borrowers have no financial obligations and they have settled with their creditors. If not, the application for this type of loan may not be approved. To top it all off, the borrower may only be able to get the bankruptcy housing loan two years after the declaration.

Financial experts advise first homeowners, particularly those without grants or subsidies from the Government and other institutions, to wait for a few months before buying the dream house. In addition, people considering buying a house must first check if their credit rating is good. With the economic situation at hand, who knows if in the next few months, interest rates would go down or banks and other lending institutions would offer a higher loan amounts for housing.