Definition of "Principal"

The portion of the monthly payment that is used to reduce the loan balance.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Mortgage Terms

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 particular computerized system for doing automated underwriting. Mortgage insurers and some large lenders have developed such systems, but the most widely used are Fannie Mae's 'Desktop ...

The lender's risk that, between the time a lock commitment is given to the borrower and the time the loan is closed, interest rates will rise and the lender will take a loss on selling ...

During the great depression of the 1930s, the government stepped in and came with an innovative loan to help the banking industry recover, thus putting the whole economy back on track. FHA ...

A lender who specializes in lending to sub-prime borrowers. ...

The initial interest rate on an ARM, when it is below the fully indexed rate. ...

A mortgage Web site designed to provide leads to lenders. A 'lead' is a packet of information about a consumer in the market for a loan. Lenders pay for leads, and these sites are an ...

The total cash required of the home buyer/borrower to close the purchase plus loan transaction or the loan transaction on a refinance. Required cash includes the down payment, points and ...

The party who services a loan, who may or may not be the lender who originated it. ...

Popular Mortgage Questions