Refinancing Your Mortgage is NOT debt elimination

What do I hear a lot? I'm going to refinance my mortgage and pay off my credit card debt, which will lower my payments. (Listening to a mortgage broker who is going to make a huge commission when you do this is dangerous!)



What you are really doing: Moving unsecured debt to secured debt-against your most important asset-your house. Now, if you can't make a payment, they can foreclose on the roof over your head.



You did NOT eliminate any debt, you have just restructured it and if you restructed it into a new 30-year mortgage, you will be paying off that same debt over the next 30 years. It might be at a lower interest rate, but you need to study your loan ammortization schedule and see what this new 30-year plan costs you. That mortgage broker may not be your friend - remember, his/her first interest is padding his/her pocket.



Your least cost option? Submit the debt to arbitration, eliminate it with no interest cost over the next 18-39 months.



Also, talk to us about how you can use a MMA to eliminate your mortgage in half the normal time.

My Average Debt Negotiation Client: What would $70,000 Savings in a Retirement Account Grow to?

In the example below, I projected an average savings of $70,000 for my average client over the next 17-18 years by using our debt negotiation program versus making minimum payments on their unsecured debt. Would not this savings be better in a retirement account?

Using a 10% average compounded return which is historically correct for a balanced stock portfolio, my projections say that this average client could build a retirement nest egg of $148,000 by investing the savings from our debt negotiation program, rather than paying the credit card companies 17-30% rates over the next 17 years.

This of course assumes that this client never uses credit cards and other unsecured debt again, which of course is our advice.

We ourselves have made this commitment, as we would rather enjoy this nest egg of $148,000, rather than be out $70,000. That is a swing of $218,000. Is it any wonder that we are warned consistently about the dangers of credit cards and other secured debt?

Roger would be happy to show and explain these projections with you. Call 941-320-0818 for a consultation.

My Average Debt Negotiation Client: How do you compare?

My average client who has entered the debt negotiation program 2007 year to date has an income of $47,600, credit card/unsecured debt of $29,839 for a unsecured debt to income ratio (excluding mortgage and vehicles) of 62.7%.

If they continued to just make minimum payments on this unsecured debt, this average individual would pay roughly $89,500 to the credit card companies and banks, roughly 3 times their current balances by the time their loans were paid off.

We project we will negotiate this average debtor to roughly $19,395 with no interest and each individual has the choice of a 18 to 36 month payoff to become debt free. This would be a monthly payment of $540 for 36 months ranging to $1,080 for 18 months. This would save this average client roughly $70,100 versus continuing to pay minimum payments each month for the next 17-18 years to get out of debt, IF they never charged another penny to their cards.

Call Roger Foulks, M.B.A., Senior Debt Consultant at 941-320-0818 for more information and a consultation about this lawyer-led program and your personal situation.