Refinancing?

[glocklt4]

Bah.

If you get into a boat wreck they will go after your house. And your boat. And your retirement assets. And your future income. How much you owe on each item is irrelevant

(unless, of course, you have no equity anywhere. . in which case nobody will bother).

The solution for this is gobs of liability insurance. Don't think "state minimums". Think "How much will they sell me?"

Yeah, agree. Got an umbrella myself for that very reason. I don't like tying something that can kill someone to my house though... just makes your house more vulnerable to me.

 

[The Bill Collector]

I've never gotten a HELOC and been sued, so I couldn't tell you from experience... but my point is that with lawyers these days, I wouldn't chance that at all... HELOC's have to say what you are intending to use the $ for, correct? So if you get sued for killing someone, your assets and remaining equity in the house is on the line (assuming your umbrella insurance isn't enough or something). If a lawyer finds out that the boat you killed someone with was paid for with a 2nd mortgage, I would assume they are going to go after equity in the house that backed that payment for the boat. No?

This is the reason that when my sister and I were younger and started driving, we got our own insurance, our names on everything. If we (over 18) were to wreck and kill someone, then it is in our names, not tied to our parent's assets, so the chances of suing and collecting my parents assets is lower. The next route to go is to get a trust so that you can be sued for everything you've got, but your trust can't (or is immune to certain types perhaps).

Whether your boat has a "boat loan" or a "HELOC" you still can get sued for anything.... In Washington State the homestead exemption is $125,000.00 meaning if I get sued, lose, don't have enough insurance, owe more then $125,000 on the judgment after insurance.... yes they can force me to sell my house, but it doesn't matter how the boat was financed....

 

[glocklt4]

Whether your boat has a "boat loan" or a "HELOC" you still can get sued for anything.... In Washington State the homestead exemption is $125,000.00 meaning if I get sued, lose, don't have enough insurance, owe more then $125,000 on the judgment after insurance.... yes they can force me to sell my house, but it doesn't matter how the boat was financed....

Ah k. Yeah, i have no idea on the specifics of the laws state to state. In Texas our homestead exemption is much smaller....

 

[Woody]

A lot of questionable guidance here so far, I’ll throw in mine: All HELOC are not created equal. A person would be wise to check around and compare so they understand what is available and how they work, only then should you decide whether or not to use them.

 

[comsnark]

Yeah, agree. Got an umbrella myself for that very reason. I don't like tying something that can kill someone to my house though... just makes your house more vulnerable to me.

True. But it doesn't matter.

You take out a loan, you have to pay it back. If you don't. . they come after you.

If you are upside down on a secured loan and the (boat, car, plane, house) isn't worth the value of the loan, the bank will have every right to go after any other asset you have to regain their money.

The only difference between securing a loan with a boat or a house is which asset they go after first.

Bottom line: Don't default on a loan.

(and as noted above. . carry plenty of liability insurance)

 

[glocklt4]

Just an update on refinancing. Found that Texanscu.com has 6.99% and I'm attempting to refi with them at 60mo. They ran NADA on my boat though and it says it's worth $14.1k??? That's retarded. Haven't seen a single 2005 200 sport for sale for less than $19k. I don't know where the crap NADA is getting their values! I told them to check out www.bucvalu.com to see that it has a more accurate $16.9-19.2k estimate. We'll see what the underwritter says tomorrow i guess.... May have to pay off a chunk to be able to get a 2.5% lower rate.