Feb 19 2010

Balloon Payment Mortgage

The other term for a balloon payment mortgage is a partially amortized loan. Balloon payment mortgage is when your liability or obligation is only partially amortized, leaving the rest to be paid upon the completion of the term. Because the initial interest rates and monthly payments are lower, a balloon payment mortgage is paid off with one large payment at the end of the loan term.

Balloon payment mortgages are called such because borrowers who are on this type of loan are usually set up for a balloon payment at the end of their loan term. In most other loans, monthly payments do not only pay off the interest but also chip away at the principal amount the original amount owed. Thus at the end of each loan term where balloon payment mortgage is applied, no money is owed.

With balloon payment mortgages however, the monthly payment only comprises of interest or a combination of interest plus a small amount for the principal. No matter the case, when the balloon payment mortgage term expires, the balance is due in full.

Most second mortgages are commonly balloon payment mortgages. For instance, your balloon payment mortgage is 20,000 with a monthly interest-only payment set up for ten years. When your balloon payment mortgage term ends, you still have to pay for the 20,000 principal amount.

There are a couple of accepted institutional loan products that have balloon payment mortgages. One of these balloon payment mortgage products is the 30-year loan that has to be paid off in five or seven years.

Usually, the interest rate of the 30-year balloon payment mortgage is lower than a normal 30-year fixed rate mortgage with due date of 30 years. Monthly payments of balloon payment mortgage are still amortized based on the 30-year term. But at the end of five or seven years, a large amount of the balloon payment mortgage is due.

To explain further on this, lets say you have a balloon payment mortgage with an interest rate of 7.5%. After seven years, an approximate 92% of the original balloon payment mortgage amount is due. For example, the amount of the balloon payment mortgage is 200,000. The interest rate for this balloon payment mortgage is 7.5%. After seven years, the total amount of money you owe to the balloon payment mortgage lender is 184,000, provided that you havent sold the property yet or refinanced.

A tip for home borrowers is that when you do take on a balloon payment mortgage makes sure that the due date is not too soon. With balloon payment mortgages, if you cant pay the lender the amount on the due date, you might have to foreclose and lose the property.

Some lenders offer extensions for their 30-years-due-in-7 balloon payment mortgages. Lenders of this type of loan may extend your balloon payment mortgage for another 23 years but with a new interest rate. These balloon payment lenders base their new interest rates on a conversion formula. In this case, you might have to re-qualify for the balloon payment mortgage should the new interest rate on the mortgage being converted is significantly higher than the old rate.

Jan 29 2010

Amortization Mortgage

What is an amortization mortgage? If youve bought a house before, you probably have an idea what amortization mortgage is. But as far as details are concerned, amortization mortgages just escape those who dont have a solid financial education background.

Amortization Mortgages: What the experts say
According to Philip Russel, assistant professor of finance at Philadelphia University, an amortization mortgage is the systemic payment plan such as a monthly payment so that your loan is paid off over the specified loan period.

Based on his given definition, we can therefore safely conclude that an amortization mortgage is an amount of money that is to be paid off by a certain date. Paying off an amortization mortgage is usually done in equal monthly installments. One example of an amortization mortgage is one that involves your car loan or your home loan. Your credit account however cannot be considered an amortization mortgage since it does not involve a fixed date for payoff.

In an amortization mortgage, payment is divided into two portions one for the interest cost and the other for the principal amount. The principal amount is the money originally borrowed from the amortization mortgage lender. The interest is the percent growth of the money as time goes.

Amortization mortgage interest is computed based on the current amount owed. Thus the longer youve been paying for an amortization mortgage, the lower the interest becomes.
Negative Amortization Mortgage: Pros and Cons

Payment plans for an amortization mortgage are usually based on adjustable rate payment loans. Adjustable rate amortization mortgages are loans where the amount you pay depends on the rise or fall of interest rates.

Some types of adjustable rate amortization mortgages offer payment caps than interest rate caps. This basically limits the increase amount of your monthly payment on your amortization mortgage and makes your loan negatively amortized. If interest rates rise to the point that the interest due cannot be covered by your monthly amortization mortgage payment, the unpaid amount will be added into the loan balance, increasing it over time.

For instance, the payment cap of your amortization mortgage is 7.5%. With a monthly amortization mortgage payment of 1,000 and rising interest rates, your new payment would normally be 1200/month. But with an amortization mortgage with capped payment, you would only be paying 1075 and the other 125 gets added to your loan balance.

But this setback of a negative amortization mortgage can be counteracted if you choose to pay the additional amount now and not wait for its payoff overtime. Another advantage of negative amortization mortgages is that cash flow is more easily controlled. Remember that with an adjustable rate amortization mortgage, interest rates may go lower depending on the market. Natural inflation will allow you to pay back the money you borrowed today at a depreciated value years from now.

Most adjustable rate amortization mortgages have interest rates that will adjust every six months, once a year, every three years, or every five years. Interest rates of negative amortization mortgages can adjust monthly.