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oh my dear god, whatever your situation is, PLEASE DO NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER add your student loans to your mortgage. I asked my incredible mortgage/financial service rep about this today, and she said it was NOT a financially sound move for the following reason:
1). You are adding money to a mortgage. To use my situation as an example, I would have to add 13,000$ (approx.) to my 130,000$ (approx.) mortgage to pay off my student loan, bringing the total of my mortgage to about 143,000$. The original amount of 130,000$ has an excellent rate of only 5.39%, which is why I thought of this. HOWEVER, the added 13,000$ would have an interest rate of about 7%. This 7% would be "blended" with the 5.39%, bringing the interest to about 6.25% on the ENTIRE balance of 143,000$, NOT just the 13,000$.
She also told me that on not only ethical grounds from whatever regulatory body that regulates mortgages (CHMC?), that her bank (TD Canada Trust) would never in a million years allow a customer to make such an unwise (and frankly costly) decision, and that she would sooner not have my business if I were to persue this.
Thankfully, like I said, she is an incredible lady, and truly knows her sh*t (pardon my language) when it comes to this, and asked me what my condo is now worth. I was incredibly lucky to buy before Edmonton's housing prices went stupid crazy, and my condo is now worth well over 300,000$. To go conservatively, we decided on an amount of 280,000$, and less the mortgage, you are allowed about 80% of the equity to borrow (subject to approval), which in my situation works out to about 80000$. (Think 280,000$-130,000$=150,000$ in equity, *80%= 80,000$).
Please realize I am rounding for ease of understanding!
Anyways, this 80,000$ would be considered a "Home Equity Line of Credit" (HELOC for short), and for legal reasons or something, would be considered a 2nd lien against my condo (with the mortgage being the first lien). This HELOC would only be at an interest rate of about 6.5%-7.25% (depending on how my beacon score/credit score are). She then said they (TD Canada Trust) could issue a check to me pre made out to Canada Student Loans for the balance of my loan, and then I could treat this HELOC as a loan instead of as a line of credit, and close it when I was done paying for it.
I am seriously considering this, as it would save me quite a bit of money in the long run, as my student loans are locked in at 8.5%. One percent interest saved is one percent interest saved, which is one percent interest less that you'll have in YOUR pocket instead of some fat CEO!!!! As well, having a check issued from a major bank to the CIBC NSLC is a GREAT way of proving you actually paid them **** off, because if you EVER have problems with them saying you didn't pay them, or pay them off in full, or whatever other excuse they give you, your bank that issued that check won't stop for one minute to persue the matter. I know of that first hand, but that is for another forum, unless I am asked to post it here.
All the best to you!!! If you like, I can certainly refer you to my lady, who I'm sure can refer you to someone in your province that will help you. If my lady can't do it, it just can't be done. Period.
oh, and dear, if your loans are with the CIBC NSLC, you will need to DEMAND in no uncertain terms that you want to pay your loan bi-weekly, then when the CSR tells you they can't do that, DEMAND to speak to their superior, who will be able to do it. Period. I had to play the part of the biggest bitch on earth to get it to happen, but I finally got it done.
As for momof2's comment on adding 50 bucks, it helps like you wouldn't believe!! If you don't have the extra cash, try starting a home based business like Mary Kay or Creative Memories. I started both, and will help you with the extra cash, and give you some insane tax breaks as well.
I hope this ramble helps you and everyone else; please get ahold of me if I can be of further assistance to you in anyway, ok?
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There is hope! Keep the faith, believe in yourself, and most importantly, when you are threatened, remind yourself that YOU DO HAVE RIGHTS, and that NO ONE can take those away. NEVER AGAIN.
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