Monthly Archives: April 2021

Whether it’s an outdated master bathroom, a closed kitchen with dying appliances, or a playroom in need of a facelift, you might have some renovations you’d like to tick off on your. listing. The advantage of renovating your home? You can increase its value while improving your quality of life while you are there. The wrong side? The cost involved.

Home improvements can be expensive, and if you don’t have the money to pay for them, your only choice may be to borrow to finance these projects. But is it a good idea?

It actually depends. There are some types of loans that make sense for home renovations, and others that don’t.

The best ways to borrow for home renovations

If you need money to finance a home improvement project, charging it to a credit card is usually not a good idea. With a credit card, you will usually pay more interest than with any other type of loan. Plus, too much credit card debt could hurt your credit score, making it harder to borrow money the next time you need it. And while it might seem like a good idea to finance a home improvement project with a personal loan, since you’ll typically pay less interest than with a credit card, there may be better options.

A home equity loan

Equity is the amount of your home that you own and you can borrow for any reason. If you need to finance renovations, a home equity loan could be a good bet. With one of these loans, you will usually get a lower interest rate than a personal loan, and home equity loans are quite easy to obtain because your home is used as collateral.

This means that you run the risk of losing your home if you take out a home equity loan and fall significantly behind on your payments. (The lender may eventually take your home to collect the money owed to them.) But if you borrow responsibly – that is, only take out a loan that you can afford to pay off, you can mitigate that risk.

A HELOC

With a Home Equity Line of Credit, or HELOC, you get a line of credit that you can draw on however you want. HELOCs typically give you five to 10 years to make withdrawals, and this flexibility is one reason they may be a better choice for home renovations than home equity loans.

Let’s say you are unsure of the cost of a given project. A HELOC will allow you to overcharge because you can apply for a higher line of credit and not use it all. And at that point, you will only have to repay the amount you actually borrowed from your HELOC. As is the case with home equity loans, you will need to make sure you can repay your HELOC or you risk losing your home.

Cash-out refinancing

With a home equity loan or HELOC, you don’t get a new mortgage. With cash-out refinancing, you do. And while the process of closing a new mortgage is usually longer than finalizing a home equity loan or HELOC, the savings can be worth it.

With withdrawal refinancing, you are borrowing more than your remaining mortgage balance. If you need to renovate, you can use that extra money to cover your renovations. With today’s refinance rates, you could pay much less interest on a refinance with withdrawal than on a home equity loan or HELOC. You just have to be careful not to borrow too much to keep your monthly payments affordable. But to be clear, a cash refinance could help you not only finance your renovations, but also make your remaining mortgage balance less costly to pay off.

Borrowing money to cover home renovations can be a smart move, as the improvements you make could help you get a higher asking price for your home when the time comes to sell it. Just make sure you borrow smart so you don’t pay more interest than you need to.

WOMEN could pay thousands more than men when borrowing money from what has been dubbed the “gender credit gap”, said a credit reference agency.

Lower credit scores among women mean they have to pay £ 17,000 more in interest on financial products like mortgages, credit cards and unsecured loans over their lifetimes, research shows.

Women are already fighting to close the gender pay gap, which researchers have found to increase during the pandemic due to job loss.

Research has also found that women are harmed by the UK pension system, retiring 55% less than men on average.

Today, financial services firm Credit Karma claims to have found evidence of a “gender credit gap.” Here we explain how:

How big is the “gender credit gap”?

Credit Karma found that their female users have an average credit score of 652 compared to an average of 702 among their male counterparts.

The researchers then looked at data from the Bank of England on financial products that consumers buy – like auto finance, mortgages, credit cards and unsecured loans.

From there, they determined the amount of interest consumers should pay on these products throughout their lives based on their credit score.

They found the cost of the lifetime loan for women to be £ 152,403 due to their lower credit scores.

This compares to £ 135,490 for men – a difference of £ 16,913.

Why do women have lower credit scores?

Women may have lower scores because they are less likely to use products that help build their credit profile, according to a survey of 1,012 UK adults conducted by Qualtrics Research between February 16 and March 5, 2021.

Almost a third of women (31%) declared all or part of their financial arrangements on behalf of their partner, according to the study.

This means that they may not have the same credit profile as men and sometimes have no credit rating.

The survey also found that women are less likely to access products that would positively impact their ratings, including personal loans, credit cards and mortgages.

Instead, 25% of women are more likely to borrow money with buy it now and pay later programs that don’t affect credit scores, compared to 19% of men.

Meanwhile, the gender credit gap could widen further due to the pandemic.

Research has found that 20% of women report being made redundant or on leave compared to 14% of men.

Another factor is that women (32%) are more likely to have seen their income decline in the past year than men (30%).

Akansha Nath, Head of Partnerships at Credit Karma, said: “The past year has been incredibly difficult for everyone, but it is worrying that women are disproportionately affected in the long term.

“There is no reason why borrowing should be more expensive for women than for their partners, but there are a number of simple solutions that can make it more attractive to lenders. “

Nath added that Credit Karma encourages women to take a more hands-on approach to managing their money after their research found that 41% had not checked their credit score compared to 35% of men.

Martyn James, money expert at Revolver, told The Sun that the gender credit gap “definitely” exists.

But he added that in many cases, technical details like which name appears first on a couple’s joint account can have an impact.

He said: “It has been known for many years that women financially lose vital sources of money like credit due to technical issues, to be second on common policies like mortgages or credit cards or to n ‘not being the main source of household money.

“It’s not enough to pretend to talk about these differences. Credit providers need to take these differences into account to ensure that women don’t lose out just because they are women.”

Women can expect to have on average £ 100,000 less in private retirement funds, according to Scottish Widows.

Martin Lewis explains 7 things you need to know about your retirement, including a tip for figuring out how much to save.

We’ve also put together a comprehensive guide on how to improve your credit score.

Through Meyer toy

Apr 15, 2021 9:00 a.m.

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