Version 1.3.1: Borrow Against Your Assets
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You own things. Those things are worth something. In version 1.3.1 the bank finally agrees to talk about it.
How it works
The Borrow menu has a new section. Pick any property, business or stock holding that has no debt against it, choose an amount, and borrow against it. Like a mortgage, the loan is interest-only. It is titled "Equity Loan" followed by the name of the asset, and that is not decoration. It ties the loan to that asset.
Why it is cheaper
A loan with nothing behind it costs more, because the bank has nothing to repossess. A loan the bank can secure against something it can take back costs much less. The trade-off is the same one a mortgage offers: because the loan is interest-only, your payment stays low, and you still owe the whole amount at the end. The asset is tied to the loan, and it stays tied until the debt is gone.
The loan travels with the asset
Because the loan is tied to the asset, the rest of the game knows about it. A divorce hands the loan over along with the asset, and the Sell tab shows it against the right one. (The Sell tab now uses the same lookup for every kind of secured loan, so it also finds the leveraged buyout and bridge loans it had been missing.) An asset that already carries a loan is not eligible, so you cannot stack debts on the same thing. There is a limit to how much a bank will trust one house.
A word on leverage
Every finance game ends up teaching the same lesson, and this one has taught it for a while: leverage multiplies both ways. Borrowing against one property to buy another can double your income when rents are high and quietly drown you when they are not. Check the payment, and what it does to your cashflow, before you tap. Then decide.
Next in the series is 1.4.0, which arrived four days later with Pro bots. The whole journey, from a first paycheck to two app stores, is in Going Public.
The release notes, word for word
Borrow against your assets: any property, business or stock with no loan on it can now secure a cheaper, interest-only loan at the market rate plus 0.5%. Pick the asset and the amount in the Borrow menu; the loan stays tied to that asset.
Play it now
Moneyflow is free on the App Store, free on Google Play and free in any browser. There are no ads, and you do not need an account to start.