Definition of "Discretionary ARM"

Nancy Marquez GRI, SRES real estate agent

Written by

Nancy Marquez GRI, SRESelite badge icon

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerages

An ARM on which the lender has the right to change the interest rate at any time, for any reason, by any amount, subject only to a requirement that the borrower be notified in advance. The discretionary ARM is at the opposite pole from Indexed ARM's on which rate adjustments are completely rule-based. Discretionary ARM's were long the standard mortgage in the U.K. and in other English-speaking countries that imported it from the U.K., such as India and South Africa. They never caught on in the U.S., where the indexed ARM prevails.

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

A government-owned or -affiliated lender that makes home loans directly to consumers. With minor exceptions, government in the U.S. has never loaned directly to consumers, but housing banks ...

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 ...

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

Wondering who is this Fannie Mae person that your real estate agent always mentions when the subject about mortgage is brought up? Fannie Mae is not a person, nor a Woody Allen female ...

The method of financing used when a borrower contracts to have a house built, as opposed to purchasing a completed house. Construction can be financed in two ways. One way is to use two ...

A mortgage on which all settlement costs except per diem interest and escrows are paid by the lender and/or the home seller. A no-cost mortgage should be distinguished from a ...

The house in which the borrower will live most of the time, as distinct from a second home or an investor property that will be rented. ...

A revers mortgage program administered by Fannie Mae. ...

Also called variable or flexible rate mortgage, an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) is a mortgage where the interest rate is not constant, but changes over time by the mortgage lender. ...

Popular Mortgage Questions