1. Make your mortgage payments a priority.
It's your home that's on the line.
2. Don't go with a high loan-to-value product.
Lenders who let you borrow more than your house
is worth may not be doing you a favor.
3. If you like plastic too much, forgo using a
credit card to access a line of credit and get
checks instead. Paper is a little harder to let
go of.
4. Don't tempt yourself by carrying your home
equity credit card or checks with you all the
time.
5. Keep some equity freed up for emergencies.
6. Maintain good credit. Banks monitor your payment
habits and if they see a change for the worse,
they could reduce or freeze your credit.
7. Read the fine print in your loan agreement.
8. If a lender is unfamiliar to you, check with
government agencies to see if there have been
any complaints.
9. Before you do anything, ask yourself whether
you can afford more debt and, if so, how much.
10. If you're out of a job, you could soon be
out of a house too if you can't make the loan
payments. Investigate other resources -- disability,
unemployment, savings, borrowing against a 401(k),
stocks, insurance policy or retirement plan --
before you decide to take that risk.
11. If you are going to use the money to make
a large purchase, make sure it's something that's
going to outlast the life of the loan. Don't put
your house on the line for a vacation or new clothes.
12. Don't use home equity loans for day-to-day
expenses. Those should be paid entirely out of
your current income.
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