Initial Rate Period

Acceptance of the borrower's loan application. Approval means that the borrower meets the lender's Qualification Requirements and also its Underwriting Requirements. In some cases, ...

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 ...

Same as term Qualification: The process of determining whether a prospective borrower has the ability to repay a loan. ...

A very large increase in the payment on an ARM that may surprise the borrower. The term is also used to refer to a large difference between the rent being paid by a first-time home buyer ...

Trying to find the best deal on a mortgage. It isn't easy to do right, as a summary of the major steps involved will demonstrate. Step 1: Decide if you are a potential shopper. Step 2: ...

Administering loans between the time of disbursement and the time the loan is fully paid off. Servicing includes collecting payments from the borrower, maintaining payment records, ...

Requirements stipulated by the lender that the ratio of housing expense to borrower income and the ratio of housing expense plus other debt service to borrower income cannot exceed ...

A charge imposed by the lender if the borrower pays off the loan early. The charge is usually expressed as a percent of the loan balance at the time of prepayment or a specified number of ...

A multi-lender Web site that offered borrowers the capacity to shop among multiple competing lenders. ...