Mortgage & Refinancing Information

Home Equity Loan Tax Deductions


Interest - is an amount you pay for the use of borrowed money.

Several lenders are currenty offering amazing deals for 125% home equity loans. As highly advertized as these loans are they don't highly advertize that the interest payments on these loans are not neccessarily fully tax deductable.

To understand why these interest payments don't qualify as tax deductable lets look at what is considered a tax deductable interest payment. The IRS website states that to be considered for full tax deductable interest your mortgage must fall into one of these three catagories:

  • Mortgages you took out on or before October 13, 1987 (called grandfathered debt).

  • Mortgages you took out after October 13, 1987, to buy, build, or improve your home (called home acquisition debt), but only if these mortgages plus any grandfathered debt totaled $1 million or less ($500,000 or less if married filing separately).

  • Mortgages you took out after October 13, 1987, other than to buy, build, or improve your home (called home equity debt), but only if these mortgages totaled $100,000 or less ($50,000 or less if married filing separately) and totaled no more than the fair market value of your home reduced by (1) and (2).

    As described by the IRS to be considered as home equity debt the amount of the loan must be equal or less then the Fair Market Value of your home minus any outstanding debt from your first or second mortgage up to a loan amount of $100,000.

    For example, your home's fair market value is $150,000 your outstanding debt or mortgage is $115,000. This means the equity that you have built from your home is $35,000.

    Now your looking to cash in and a lender offers you a 125% home equity loan, 125% x $150,000 = $187,500 subtract your outstanding debt of $115,000 and you have qualified for a $62,500 dollar loan. So finally lets divide this loan into two parts.

    First $35,000 is your secured home equity debt and $27,500 is your unsecured home equity debt. The problem lies that as discussed before the tax exemption for interest payments only covers the secured home equity debt amount, leaving you with the financial liability of paying off the interst on $27,500 of your loan.

    *Their is a notable exception in regards to the purpose of the home equity loan. If the loan is used for home improvement it can possibly be considered as a "home aquisition debt" and the interest payments may be deductable for a loan greater then your actual equity value.

    The best course of action is to always speak to a tax advisor regarding any type of home loan. Being aware of tax deductions and liabilities can save you a huge headache and possibly thousands of dollars!

    Richard Mccaffery is owner of Home Equity Loan Lenders, a free content website meant to assist consumers in finding home equity loan information.


    MORE RESOURCES:

    MORTGAGE REFINANCE LOANS
    Kitchener, Ontario Canada, Canada - 14 hours ago
    The City of Kitchener is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. ...


    Situations determine refinancing
    FayObserver.com, NC - 13 hours ago
    By Hilary Kraus It depends on your situation. How much do you still owe? How long do you expect to stay in your home? Are lower payments a priority? ...


    Waco banks seeing a boom in mortgage refinance applications
    Waco Tribune Herald, TX - Jan 2, 2009
    By Mike Copeland With mortgage rates hitting record lows, Mary Jo Teakell is seeing a growing backlog of refinance applications. “We’re quite busy right now ...


    Manage Your Refinance Mortgage Loan Sans the Stress
    Meadow Free Press, ID - 7 hours ago
    There are a thousand and one reasons for getting a refinance loan. One is to pay off debts or to relocate to a new house in another state. ...


    Now May Be Good Time To Refinance Home
    KMBC.com, MO - Jan 5, 2009
    KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- There aren't many bright spots in this economic recession, but one might be the fact that mortgage rates are at near-record lows. ...
    Refinancing suddenly booms Honolulu Advertiser
    Escape The Burden of Taxes with Colorado Interest Mortgage Rate ... PWO
    all 74 news articles


    Bad Credit Mortgage Refinance Loan- 3 Most Important Items to Get ...
    CrunchGear, NY - Dec 23, 2008
    Ultimately if you are looking to do a bad credit mortgage refinance loan you need to keep several things in mind to ensure that you don’t get taken for a ...


    Mortgage Refinance Online
    PWO, France - Dec 18, 2008
    If you want to consolidate debt or get cash to pay for home improvements, you can apply for a mortgage refinance online that offers you a cash back option, ...


    Florida Mortgage Broker now offering FHA Loans
    Search By Headlines (press release), NV - Dec 23, 2008
    Simply said, the FHA mortgage refinance loans are the complete replacement of the current mortgage that you have. It's important to know that FHA loans can ...


    TopNews

    Mortgage Rates Hit 37-Year Low
    Poynter.org, FL - Jan 1, 2009
    The average 30-year fixed rate now stands at 5.10 percent. It has fallen for nine straight weeks. The question is, even if you have no credit problem, ...
    Don't miss the mortgage refinance window Barre Montpelier Times Argus
    A toast to low mortgage rates MarketWatch
    US mortgage rates drop to lowest in 37 years Reuters
    all 387 news articles


    Learn About Refinance Mortgage
    PWO, France - Dec 31, 2008
    Finance home mortgage, refinance mortgage or any other loans can be applied for to pull you out from this solution. Another advantage of refinance mortgage ...

    Mortgage-Refinance - Google News

  • home | site map
    © 2006