Acceleration Clause
Definition of "Acceleration Clause"
Acceleration Clause is a contractual provision inserted in a mortgage, a bond, a deed of trust or other credit vehicles, that gives the lender the right to demand repayment of the entire loan balance. Usually, such a clause becomes operational when there has been a default in payments of interest or principal or both.
When the acceleration clause is activated, the entire principal sum is called in and becomes due and payable. This fact would precipitate a foreclosure in the case of real estate, or bankruptcy action if the monies were not paid at the time of the call.
Acceleration clauses are created to protect the lender from borrower default and other risks. It prevents/deals with payment delinquencies, but can, on rare occasions, be structured for other occurrences too.
Let's see an acceleration clause in effect scenario:
Home Seller Barbara makes a Land Contract with Home Buyer Paul. He started paying correctly and living in Barbara's former house. He has paid already $30,000 of its $100,000 contract. At the end of it, he'll be the owner of the house. BUT: he didn't pay for the last 3 months, so the acceleration clause kicked in, Barbara filed for a land contract forfeiture and now Paul has to pay the rest of the $70,000 with one swing if he wants to still be able to get the house. Or else, they're done.
Accelerate your home buying/home selling process: find a real estate agent
Popular Real Estate Terms
When you hear a real estate agent talking about a client that's an empty nester, it means said client suffers from empty nest syndrome. But what is Empty nest syndrome? Empty nest ...
Building more than six stories high serviced by elevators. ...
Land subject to an easement. ...
Housing where affirmative action is actively pursued encouraging people of all races, nationalities, and religions to purchase or rent the facilities. ...
Land parcel bounded by two intersecting roadways. ...
The definition of voluntary alienation in real estate is the transfer of the residency rights or deed of a property between two parties without the use of extraneous legal measures. Unlike ...
A loan whereby the lender, in the event of a default, has recourse beyond the collateral pledged to initially secure it. For example, John gave Brian a $50,000 recourse loan using Brian's ...
The definition of net sales price in real estate is the combined total cost to the buyer of a listing, excluding any auxiliary costs such as the sales fee, appraisal fee, real estate agent ...
When someone owns a house that is an abutting property, it means that the property is sharing a boundary with the property next to it. The two abutting properties are adjoining properties ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.