Mortgage Life Insurance

The offset mortgage is a type of mortgage in which the borrower can use their savings account to offset the mortgage interest. The mortgage interests are substantial amount especially at the start of the mortgage.

Mortgage life insurance is voluntarily. It is the decision of the borrower to sign up for the mortgage life insurance. In order to see the need, the borrower must sit with a certified insurance agent. The insurance agent will analyze the overall financial picture of the borrower.

Depending on the insurance policy, the insurance company pays for the entire mortgage or maximum amount. For example, the insurance company pays up to maximum of $600,000. If the mortgage went over the maximum amount, the insurance company repays the portion of the mortgage up to the maximum amount.

The insurance policy starts at the same day of the approval on mortgage. Even though the borrower has not paid the first mortgage payment, the borrower still gets the benefit.

Since the borrower receives no the interest on savings account, the borrower do not pay the tax on interest on savings account. Naturally, the interest on savings account will be use to pay off the mortgage interest. In United Kingdom, many borrowers are on a high tax bracket. The borrower often sees the forty percent of the interest goes to tax.

Using the interest on savings account, the borrower uses pay off the mortgage interest. In other words, the interest on savings account cancels out the mortgage interest that the borrower pays on a conventional mortgage.

The borrower usually purchases home thru mortgage. It takes a huge amount income to pay off the mortgage. In case of critical illness, debilitating accident, or depressing death of the borrower, the family needs to replace the loss of income to pay off the mortgage. With mortgage life insurance, the family does not need to worry about repaying the mortgage.

Mortgage life insurance differs from private mortgage insurance also known as PMI. The PMI protects the mortgage lenders in case of default of mortgage payment. The mortgage lenders risk the inability to re-sell the property high enough to pay off the mortgage. When the borrower lacks enough money for twenty percent down payment, the mortgage lenders requires PMI. As soon as borrower pays off or the home equity reaches twenty percent, the mortgage lenders automatically cancel the PMI premiums.

The offset mortgage originally started from Australia. Later, the offset mortgage rises in popularity in the United Kingdom. Before, the mortgage lenders only target the wealthy. Now, the mortgage lenders are widening the market for this type of mortgage.

In many times, the borrower pays a loan to value ratio of ninety five percent. That means the borrower pays five percent as down payment. Due to competition, many mortgage lenders may offer as low as loan to value ratio of eighty percent.

The interest on savings account is big enough that many mortgage lenders may offer to repay any amount without mortgage penalty. In a conventional mortgage, the borrower pays mortgage penalties on any repayment over the maximum limit to repay the mortgage early.

Usually, the mortgage lenders link the mortgage and savings account into a single account. Therefore, the borrower sees only one balance. This is more commonly known as Common Account Mortgage (CAM). For example, the borrower takes $300,000 mortgage. The borrower uses the savings account that is worth $100,000 to offset the mortgage interest. In return, the borrower only pays interest on $200,000.

Author: Dennis Estrada