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Home Equity Debt Consolidation Calculator
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This calculator is designed to help determine whether using your home equity to
consolidate your debt is right for you. Enter your credit cards, installment loans
and any other debt you wish to consolidate by clicking on the "Enter Data" button
for each category. Then change the consolidated loan amount, term or rate to create
a loan that will work within your budget. Click the "View Report" button for detailed
results.
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Definitions
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- Home equity loan amount
- Original or expected balance for your home equity
loan or line of credit.
- Interest rate
- Annual interest rate for this home equity loan or line of
credit.
- Term
- The number of years over which you will repay this loan. The most
common mortgage terms are 15 years and 30 years.
- Payment
- Monthly principal and interest payment (PI) for this mortgage.
- Credit lines/cards
- Enter your total credit card debt and credit line debt
and its average interest rate, or press the "Enter Data" button to enter up to 10
credit card or credit line accounts, one on each line.
- Auto loans
- Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any auto loans you
may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you input your
current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and the number
of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance and interest
rate. You can enter up to three installment loans.
- Other loans
- Click on the "Enter Data" button to input any additional installment
loans you may have into the details page. This details page is designed to let you
input your current monthly payment, the term (in months), the starting balance and
the number of months you have left. It then calculates your outstanding balance
and interest rate. You can enter up to six installment loans.
- Balances
- Your total current balances for your credit cards, auto loans
and other loans.
- Interest rates
- The average annual percentage rate you pay. This interest
rate is calculated for each of the categories of debt you have including credit
cards, auto loans and other installment loans. For credit cards the rate you enter
is used to calculate the interest on all future credit card payments. The length
of time to pay off this credit card may be much greater than calculated if you enter
a low promotional interest rate that is only good for a short period of time.
- Payment
- This is your initial monthly payment. For credit cards, if you
checked the "use credit card minimum payments" box, your monthly payment is calculated
as 4% of your current outstanding balance. With the "use credit card minimum payments"
box checked, your monthly payment will decrease as your balance is paid down. This
can greatly increase the length of time it takes to pay off your credit cards. Uncheck
this box to enter your own monthly payment that will remain the same until your
balance is paid in full.
(We calculate your minimum monthly payment as 4% of your current outstanding balance.
While your actual minimum monthly payment may be slightly different, this is one
of the most common methods used by credit card companies to calculate minimum payments.)
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Information and interactive calculators are made available
to you as self-help tools for your independent use and are not intended to provide
investment advice. We can not and do not guarantee their applicability or accuracy
in regards to your individual circumstances. All examples are hypothetical and are
for illustrative purposes. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified
professionals regarding all personal finance issues.
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