Related Services - The following directories of companies and services offer a wide variety of financial programs to assist you with handling your debts. Consolidate your bills with a debt consolidation loan or use a debt management or credit counseling service for help with your credit card bills and other payments.
- Debt Consolidation Company - Need lower payments? If you have a large amount of small debts (especially if they have adjustable interest rates), now may be a good time to do a consolidation of your bills and lower your overall monthly outgo.
- Credit Card Debt Management - Too many debts and payments to be able to keep up? Compare different debt management services that may be able to help you get control of your bills.
- Personal Loan Rates - Need a personal loan for debt consolidation? These types of loans often do not require collateral and are available to homeowners, as well as renters.
Home Loans
How to Keep Costs from Going Through the Roof
Buying and maintaining a house is expensive enough, so why pay more than you have to for a home loan? Suggestions throughout this special edition can help keep down the costs of a mortgage or a home equity loan, but here are additional tips.
25. You can negotiate the rates and terms of a home loan. You should look for a mortgage the way you'd look for a car — get all the important cost information, shop around and, yes, negotiate for the best deal. That's one of the key messages of Looking for the Best Mortgage, a free consumer brochure published by the FDIC and other federal government agencies (online at www.fdic.gov/consumers/looking/index.html).
Many consumers aren't aware that they can negotiate the rates, closing costs and other terms of a mortgage or home equity loan and possibly save thousands of dollars. People often think that when they get a quote on a loan from a lender or a mortgage broker (someone who finds a lender for you) that the same price is being offered to everyone. But a lender or broker may offer the same loan at different prices for different consumers, even if those consumers are equally qualified for the loan. Why? Often that's because the loan officer or broker is able to keep as income some or all of the difference between the lowest-price loan available and any higher rate the consumer agrees to pay.
FDIC Consumer News is published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FDIC Consumer News is produced quarterly by the FDIC Office of Public Affairs in cooperation with other Divisions and Offices. It is intended to present information in a nontechnical way and is not intended to be a legal interpretation of FDIC or other government regulations and policies. Mention of a product, service or company does not constitute an endorsement.
Find current and past issues of FDIC Consumer News at http://www.fdic.gov/consumernews. Refer to this same index to locate the issues that are specially formatted for being reprinted in any quantity.
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Last updated on 8/10/2007