Cumulative Interest
The sum of all interest payments to date or over the life of the loan. This is not a good measure of the cost of credit to the borrower because it does not include upfront cash payments and it is not adjusted for the time value of money.
Popular Mortgage Terms
A document that evidences a debt and a promise to repay. A mortgage loan transaction always includes a note evidencing the debt, and a mortgage evidencing the lien on the property. ...
Mortgages typically amortize over time through fixed value installment payments. However, there's a type of mortgage that doesn't: the Balloon Mortgage. It's called this way because, with ...
A sale price below market value, where the difference is a gift from the sellers to the buyers. Such gifts are usually between family members. Lenders will usually allow the gift to count ...
A borrower, usually refinancing rather than purchasing a home, who allows a lock to expire when interest rates go down in order to lock again at the lower rate. ...
A lender who delivers loans to another (usually larger) lender against prior price commitments the larger lender has made to the correspondent. Mortgage brokers sometimes evolve into ...
A mortgage Web site that shows mortgage prices posted by participating lenders, in some cases hundreds of them. ...
The process of raising cash periodically through successive cash-out refinancings. This is a scam initiated by mortgage brokers that victimizes wholesale lenders, with the connivance of ...
A home built entirely in a factory, transported to a site, and installed there. Manufactured homes are distinguished from 'modular,' 'panelized'' and 'pre-cut' homes. Manufactured houses ...
A mortgage on which half the monthly payment is paid twice a month. It should be called a 'semi-monthly mortgage' but market practice often trumps logic. In contrast to a biweekly, a ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.