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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: UnBelievable who wrote (61668)	10/28/2000 3:21:15 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

BI-MONTHLY MORTGAGE DEALS ON THE RISE Want to pay off your mortgage in 16 years instead of 20 and save $$$$$ on interest payments? Who wouldn't? But there's a catch. Accelerated mortgage payment plans are perfectly legitimate. Instead of making a single monthly payment, you pay half every two weeks. The effect is to accelerate the payout and save on interest, since interest charges are computed on actual balance. The catch is that outside firms offer to make those payments for you. All you have to do is send them the money every two weeks and they will get it to the lender. You pay an upfront fee for the service and sometimes a percentage of the payment. The firms providing the service often keep the money (earning a little interest themselves) and don't make the payment until the end of the month. The fees they charge often result in no acceleration of payment and no savings to the borrower. Sound complicated? It is. And the best way to proceed, if you want to accelerate your payments, is to contact the lender. That way, the payments can be arranged; and there's no middleman to deal with. The latest twist monitored by the National Fraud Information Center is a "business opportunity" offer which promises to set you up in business as an accelerated payment plan broker. "Bi-monthly" promotions, as they're called, have been dormant for the past two years. Watch for accelerated activity in this area as more and more promoters move out of job lines, advanced fee loans, and other "fee" generating offers now banned by the Federal Trade Commission.