Definition of "Truth in Lending (TIL)"

Leisa Ormsbee real estate agent

Written by

Leisa Ormsbeeelite badge icon

Realty Texas

The federal law that specifies the information that must be provided to borrowers on different types of loans. Also, the form used to disclose this information. Truth in Lending (TIL) is a great idea, in principle. The idea is to require lenders to provide one uniform set of price disclosures that are consistent from loan to loan and from lender to lender. Then consumers can make apples-to-apples price comparisons across loan types and across lenders. The idea has worked concerning the methodology used to calculate interest cost. Borrowers no longer have to contend with non-comparable ways to calculate interest: discount rates, add-on rates, and internal rates of return. APR: The internal rate of return used to measure interest cost on a mortgage is called the annual percentage rate, or APR. The APR on a mortgage is misleading because upfront fees are a major cost, yet only some of them are included in the APR. In addition, the APR assumes all loans run to term, when in fact most mortgages are paid in full well before term. Subordination Policy on Second Mortgages: Very few borrowers who take out a second mortgage are aware that the second mortgage lender can prevent them from refinancing their first mortgage. When the existing first mortgage is repaid, the existing second mortgage automatically becomes the first mortgage unless the second mortgage lender is willing to subordinate his claim to that of the lender providing the new mortgage into which the borrower is refinancing.

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 interest rate that is fixed for some specified number of months or years at the beginning of the life of an ARM. ...

A documentation rule where the borrower discloses income and its source but the lender does not verify the amount. ...

The sum of all interest payments to date or over the life of the loan. This is an incomplete measure of the cost of credit to the borrower because it does not include upfront cash ...

Interest from the day of closing to the first day of the following month. To simplify the task of loan administration, the accounting for all home loans begins as if the loan was closed ...

On an ARM, the assumption that the value of the index to which the interest rate is tied does not change from its initial level. ...

A mortgage on which the payment rises by a constant percent for a specified number of periods, after which it becomes fully-amortizing. ...

The monthly index is a ratio of monthly interest costs to total funds, expressed as a percentage. Annualized interest, the numerator, is calculated by multiplying the deposit balances at ...

An option exercised by the borrower, at the time of the loan application or later, to 'lock in' the rates and points prevailing in the market at that time. When lenders 'lock/' they ...

Charging unwary borrowers interest rates and/or fees that are excessive relative to what the same borrowers could have found had they shopped the market. ...

Popular Mortgage Questions