subject: About Silent Mortgages [print this page] About Silent Mortgages About Silent Mortgages
People make second mortgages on their homes to finance large expenses. Usually these include medical costs, education fees and home improvements. However, there are also cases when silen mortgages are signed, whic is in fact considered to be fairly illegal.
What does silent second mortgage actually means? The term actually refers to a second loan made without the knowledge of the first creditor. The reason to choose such an option is often related to one's inability to comply with the loan's down payment.
Here's an example: A borrower obtains first mortgage from a given lender in order to purchase a house worth $200,000. The down payment amounts to $ 20,000. But he disposes with only $5000. In this case the seller of the house offers him a credit of the remaining $ 15,000 , but they agree on not communicating this to the original lender. This is called silent second mortgage.
Why are such mortgages kept in secret?
The total amount of credit that can be allocated to a particular borrower depends on the down payment that he can afford. This house mortgage loan prerequisite says a lot of the borrower's ability to comply with his monthly installments.
If only part of the down payment is paid by the borrower his exposure in the home becomes significantly lower: if it amounts to 10% , the payment will be $2000 and if it's decreased to 2.5%, the installment is $5000. The notion is the following the lower the down payment the less the borrower is involved in the deal, so there is higher probability that he defaults on his mortgage.
This procedure also poses a risks to the seller.
The seller is in no particularly favourable situation under silent second home loan terms. The given loan can not be validated until the first one is being closed. In many cases these type of mortgages are made only with informal consent. In other words, no documents are issued to evidence of the existance of the second mortgage.
The issue with legality.
Due to reasons listed above silent second mortgage is usually considered illegal. By hiding the loan, the borrower intentionally misleads the first creditor of his financial state. However there are a few cases when these mortgages may be legitimate.
If definite conditions are fulfilled this second mortgage can be taken legally. For example, there is a program sponsored by the HUD, called Good Neighbor Next Door.
