“But how is it possible, using your money more wisely and with no change in lifestyle, to pay down your mortgage ten to fifteen years faster than a typical 360-month principal and interest (P&I) mortgage?”

“Too Good to Be True?
We greeted this with skepticism.”

“We came away with two impressions:
1. Mortgage payment acceleration is a very viable strategy that should be understood by anyone who desires to build and secure personal assets, including home ownership.
2. …..”

“We found the Money Merge Account system from United First Financial as the leaders in this market. We believe our findings will complement your personal research and experience.”

United First Financial®, its agents and subsidiaries provide Internet web based software and support services. United First Financial does not provide accounting, tax, legal, real estate, mortgage, or investment advice. Interested parties should seek and consult with persons or entities licensed and qualified in those areas for advice relating to those matters. United First Financial is not liable or responsible for claims or representations made by any party which are not included in the Money Merge Account® Limited Guarantee.

To introduce you to Broker Banker Magazine, I’ll quote from their “About Us” page.
“Broker Banker Magazine and BrokerBanker.com were designed with the intention of bringing mortgage industry insight, sales education, motivation and product information to mortgage originators on behalf of the affiliates who serve them.

Each month Broker Banker Magazine and BrokerBanker.com proudly showcase different top mortgage professionals and Industry Icons who share their secrets that keep them at the top of their game, as well as occasional highlights from a second feature in the category of Rising Star and Innovative and/or Outstanding Mortgage Company.

The magazine dedicates 7 pages to the review. It covers the history and background of both the company and the Money Merge Account system and gives insight into how it works. It was published in 2007, so it details the characteristics of line of credit that is required to work with the system. Since then, United First Financial have upgraded the software to work with the bare minimum of just a checking and a savings account. Those who can get the appropriate line of credit will benefit more from the system, but those who can’t are not left out to dry - they too can significantly reduce the time to pay off their debts and the amount of interest they pay.

This is a magazine directed at mortgage loan originators, so this quote is particularly apt: “…. mortgage companies are now training all their loan officers to use the MMA as a tool to destroy their competition when competing for a client’s business. When two mortgage companies are offering the same mortgage, at the same rate, the company that’s able to offer a plan to pay off the mortgage in up to 1/3 to 1/2 the time, has the unfair advantage.” Mortgage originators are finding that they can add very good value to their clients by selling this Money Merge Account system.

A couple of quotes from mortgage brokers who are selling the system:

Scott Schaffer, a mortgage broker in Folsom, CA, says, “Any mortgage broker who does not show their clients how to accelerate their mortgage payoff through this program is crazy. My clients keep asking me ‘why hasn’t anyone told me about this before?’ This program has created a referral brush fire for me.”

Brooke Barnett, a Mortgage Broker in San Diego, CA says “I’m finding after introducing the Money Merge Account to a new client, that I have all the crucial information needed to evaluate their current financing situation, giving me the ability to refinance at least 20% of their first mortgages, resulting in even greater savings.”

Magazine publishers are very circumspect when it comes to endorsing products and services that are reviewed in a publication that they publish. The review can state clearly what the author concludes about a service, whether good or bad, as that comes as part of the job. But for a publisher to step in to endorse or reject comes with certain risks. Brian Toper, Executive Publisher Broker Banker Magazine considers the Money Merge Account system so significant that he waived his rule not to give endorsements.

“As an experienced mortgage originator and Founder/Publisher of Broker Banker Magazine, I’ve come across every imaginable product designed to help mortgage originators generate more business. Some have been great, most have not. I have never personally and/or publicly endorsed any product. However, I’m endorsing this one. It’s the Real Deal.”

This is what is called a sterling recommendation.

United First Financial®, its agents and subsidiaries provide Internet web based software and support services. United First Financial does not provide accounting, tax, legal, real estate, mortgage, or investment advice. Interested parties should seek and consult with persons or entities licensed and qualified in those areas for advice relating to those matters. United First Financial is not liable or responsible for claims or representations made by any party which are not included in the Money Merge Account® Limited Guarantee.

The title really should be “does it make any significant difference whether the PMI is paid by the lender or the borrower?”. Firstly, what is PMI? It is the insurance required by lenders when a borrower does not put down 20% or more of the purchase price as a down payment. This insurance typically ranges between $50 and $300. I won’t go into the specific options and benefits of lender paid versus borrower paid insurance, such as available tax deductions; your mortgage originator is much more qualified to help you with all the details. My aim here is to highlight the starting point for considerations.

An example I read gave the following details:

Loan Example with borrower paid PMI:
$200,000 purchase price, 5% down payment ($10,000), 30 year fixed rate of 5.875%, Payment = $1247.42 (including PMI $123.50)

Loan Example with lender paid PMI:
$200,000 purchase price, 5% down payment ($10,000), 30 year fixed rate of 6.375%, Payment = $1185.35

The second example, where the lender pays the PMI, is at a higher interest rate but costs the borrower $62.07 less per month.

This might lead you to think that lender-paid PMI is the only way to go, but there are other consideration that you will need to consider, such as tax deductions as well as the important fact that borrower-paid PMI stops once the loan to value ratio drops below 80%, i.e. once you own a 20% equity stake in your home, whereas the higher interest rate of the lender-paid PMI continues.

If you’re already paying off your mortgage, it’s too late to change without refinancing, but, keep reading. What I describe below applies equally to you. If you are heading off to your mortgage broker for a new loan, this is one aspect that you will need to raise and make a decision on. Your broker will give you all the information and you’ll need to spend time working on all the different variables to determine which route is best. But what if your broker instead turned to you and said that for an additional closing fee of $3,500 you could cut almost $100,000 off your debt and reduce the time to pay it off by more than 11 years?

He will put figures in front of you relating to this alternative plan.

If you go with the borrower-paid PMI, you will save $92435.18 in interest and cut your term by 11.8 years
If you go with the lender-paid PMI, you will save $103,969.78 in interest and cut your term by 11.9 years.

He’ll tell you that these figures are based on the information he has and that they will change as he finds out more about your financial situation. But the figures likely won’t change dramatically.

He’ll tell you that, under normal loan conditions, it will take about 6-3/4 years to get to the point where you can stop paying borrower-paid PMI. Under the alternative he is suggesting, based on the borrower-paid PMI duration, he’ll tell you that after 7 years on the borrower-paid PMI route you will have paid down $52,931.12 in principal and on the alternative lender-paid plan, $51,961.25 in principal will have been paid. In both cases, with this alternative plan he is proposing, these amounts are more than double what you would have paid down using the normal method.

So, based on you not paying PMI after the 6-3/4 years, you will also accumulate a nominal amount of $34209.50. Add that to the $92435.18 and you will be saving $126,644.68. And then he’ll add to the pot when he tells you that under the recommended method, you will achieve the 20% equity stake, not after 6-3/4 years, but after 3-1/4 years, giving you another $5,187.00 dollars in PMI you won’t have to pay, bringing your total savings to $131.831.68

So, do you say, nah, I’ll just go with one of normal methods, or do you say, hell yes, I’ll go for the method that will save me $131,831 and 11.8 years off my original 30 year term. If you do, you’ll get a free analysis for you to see what the Money Merge Account system from United First Financial can do for you.

If you are already paying off a mortgage, you can can still take advantage of the Money Merge Account system, and no refinancing is needed. Saving time and money will help accelerate your mortgage and any other debts you might have.

Contact us now to receive your free evaluation and to see whether the Money Merge Account service can save you time and money.

Please note that the above figures are not necessarily exact and applicability to your situation will be determined by your specific details. We recommend that you take the results of your free evaluation into consideration with other factors and that you talk to applicable qualified persons during your decision making process.

United First Financial®, its agents and subsidiaries provide Internet web based software and support services. United First Financial does not provide accounting, tax, legal, real estate, mortgage, or investment advice. Interested parties should seek and consult with persons or entities licensed and qualified in those areas for advice relating to those matters. United First Financial is not liable or responsible for claims or representations made by any party which are not included in the Money Merge Account® Limited Guarantee.

Not able to refinance, or it’s not worth even trying to do so? What’s the reason? One or a combination of negative equity, excessive debt ratio, credit score. What to do? Maybe increasing your income is not under your control, though there’s nothing wrong with asking for a raise or increasing your selling efforts. But there are a few things you probably can control.

Rebuild Equity: If you’re in an upside-down loan, there’s not much point even trying to refinance so your immediate goal should be to build equity. Action is required, as the only foreseeable way home values are going to increase at a rate that will quickly recoup equity lost in the last couple of years is if all the government’s stimulus actions lead to a dramatic increase in inflation. For an example of this, read my blog, A life belt for underwater mortgages.

If this happens, it will come with a significant increase in loan rates, so, by the time you can refinance, it will no longer be worth doing so. Again, action is required, and that action is to pay down your loan as fast as possible so that you build an ownership stake that can be used to assist in your refinancing bid. Just following the standard options such as making additional equity payments or changing to a bi-weekly plan will not raise you up from an underwater mortgage in time to take advantage of the current low rates.

The only real option is to accelerate your mortgage using tried and proven software technology such as the Money Merge Account from UFirst, which uses banking technique and the banks’ money to put you in the driver’s seat. And this is a driver’s seat that includes a financial GPS system, ensuring you know where you are heading and putting you back on course when you experience financial hiccups.

Improve your credit score: Doing preventative maintenance on your credit report means being both proactive and reactive. React to anything that occurs or may occur that might damage your standing - in other words, don’t mess up by not making minimum payments or going further into debt. Being proactive means taking action to improve your score. This is not a lesson on what actions to take to do so as there are many available on the Internet. But it is one on how to rapidly make a difference.

Just following good practices has the same downside that the standard mortgage pay down techniques have; it will take too long. You need help and the best help comes in the form of a computer. Remember Gary Kasparov, the world renowned chess player. It took a computer to beat him! In the match series, Gary Kasparov did actually manage to win one of the matches and, likewise, there are some actions that you might be able to take that will move you towards a quicker payoff, but only if you are a mathematical geek who wants to replicate the 24 pages of algorithms encompassed in the Money Merge Account system every single time you make a payment, a deposit or a withdrawal.

Reduce your taxes: Do you have any idea what a difference it would make to your financial future if you could reduce your taxes by $2,500 to $11,000 per year? This is possible if you start a home based business (self employment triggers [AVG] $10,000+ in potential deductions = $2,500 at 25% tax rate) or, if you already own a business, check whether you are one of those who doesn’t claim sufficient deductions (the GAO estimates, in it’s latest year’s figures, that small business owners overpaid on average $11,000 in tax because they did not claim tax deductions that they validly could have). Taking that average, and applying it to a 30 year standard $200,000, 6% mortgage to reduce capital owed, would save 19 years, 3 months AND $160,199 in interest. Looking at the upfront years, where most of the standard monthly mortgage payment comprises mainly interest, you would gain a little less than $11,000 in equity just in the first year. United First Financial is releasing a new service, called BizpacK that not only offers a low cost entry business opportunity, but also is specifically aimed at home based and small businesses and, most importantly, includes the UDeduct system which guides business owners towards accurately recording their expenses, which helps them make as much use as applicable of the more than 100 tax deductions available to them.

Using the Money Merge Account system and the Bizpack opportunity together gives you a cohesive trinity of paying down debt fast, improving your credit score and, drum roll please… paying down your debt even faster! An additional drum roll!!! The mortgage acceleration possible with the Money Merge Account is available without the need for a line of credit or available credit card limits. United First Financial recognized that upside-down loans and reduced credit card limits would hamper your ability to utilize these vehicles, so they upgraded the system to work with just a checking and savings account.

United First Financial®, its agents and subsidiaries provide Internet web based software and support services. United First Financial does not provide accounting, tax, legal, real estate, mortgage, or investment advice. Interested parties should seek and consult with persons or entities licensed and qualified in those areas for advice relating to those matters. United First Financial is not liable or responsible for claims or representations made by any party which are not included in the Money Merge Account® Limited Guarantee.