Can a home loan calculator replace a mortgage advisor?
Article by Zeng Han Jun
By: Zeng Han Jun, CPCG, Singapore
There are all kinds of mortgage calculators over the internet. Regardless of their various names and brands, most of them help you to calculate your month installments based on several factors. Do take note that when working with mortgage calculators, they can only give indicative numbers and definitely cannot compare with your mortgage advisors.
You will normally be required to key in the following information:
Home loan amount
The most basic and essential question that the mortgage calculator will require from you. Fancy that new property? Type in its value and try to work out the installment. However, the mortgage calculator will not be able to advise you on what is the safe range of deals that you are able to undertake. A mortgage calculator merely gives you the result based on your own assumptions. A mortgage advisor can actually guide you to work out on a safe range of housing loan to undertake based on your personal financial profile.
Loan tenure
Loan tenure refers to how long you would want to pay for your home loan. It can range from 5 years to 35 years. Again, this depends on the profile of the financial consumers. Different banks have different method for calculating the loan tenure for each applicant. Blindly keying the loan tenure into the mortgage calculator can lead you to falsely assume that the bank will allow you that loan tenure. Your mortgage advisor who can be a mortgage broker or a bank officer can advise you on the actual loan tenure allowed for you. They can also provide additional advice on how different loan tenures can affect your financial profile.
Interest rates
This is very simple. Call up a bank and ask for their interest rate then key this piece of information into the calculator. Alternatively you can work with a mortgage broker, and he or she will quote you the best rate from all the banks in your district or country. Remember, interest rates are largely divided into fixed and floating. Mortgage calculators on the web are mostly for fixed rate mortgages. Your mortgage advisor can actually assess your financial and psychological profile and determine if a fixed, floating, interest only or hybrid is suitable for you.
A mortgage calculator is a piece of equipment that has no experience by itself. It can give you indicative results or results that you very much would like to see. A mortgage advisor, on the other hand, deals with many customers on a per day basis and has accumulated vast experiences in dealing with mortgages. He or she can quickly determine your financial needs and assist you in your unique situation. The only way a mortgage calculator can beat a mortgage advisor is when that particular calculator has been enhanced with biological artificial intelligence and has been driven through countless of mortgage application situation. Perhaps that will happen in the future, but for now, its better to seek out a mortgage advisor instead.
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About the Author
Zeng Han Jun is an EzineArticles.com Expert Author, Lensmaster and the Business Financial Manager of Chan & Partners Consulting Group, based in Singapore. He actively contributes articles about business and finance on a weekly basis, so as to share his knowledge with the financial community.