Interest-only loan
Encyclopedia
An interest-only loan is a loan
in which, for a set term, the borrower pays only the interest on the principal balance
, with the principal balance unchanged. At the end of the interest-only term the borrower may enter an interest-only mortgage, pay the principal, or (with some lenders) convert the loan to a principal and interest payment (or amortized
) loan at his/her option.
, a five- or ten-year interest-only period is typical. After this time, the principal balance is amortized
for the remaining term. In other words, if a borrower had a thirty-year mortgage loan
and the first ten years were interest only, at the end of the first ten years, the principal balance would be amortized for the remaining period of twenty years. The practical result is that the early payments (in the interest-only period) are substantially lower than the later payments. This gives the borrower more flexibility because he is not forced to make payments towards principal. Indeed, it also enables a borrower who expects to increase his salary substantially over the course of the loan to borrow more than he would have otherwise been able to afford, or investors to generate cashflow when they might not otherwise be able to. During the interest-only years of the mortgage, the loan balance will not decrease unless the borrower makes additional payments towards principal. Under a conventional amortizing mortgage, the portion of a payment that represents principal is very small in the early years (the same period of time that would be interest-only).
Interest-only loans represent a somewhat higher risk for lenders, and therefore are subject to a slightly higher interest rate. Combined with little or no down payment, the adjustable rate (ARM) variety of interest only mortgages are sometimes indicative of a buyer taking on too much risk- especially when that buyer is unlikely to qualify under more conservative loan structures. Because a homeowner does not build any equity in an interest-only loan he may be adversely affected by prevailing market conditions at the time he is either ready to sell the house or refinance. He may find himself unable to afford the higher regularly amortized payments at the end of the interest only period, unable to refinance due to lack of equity, and unable to sell if demand for housing has weakened.
Due to the speculative aspects of relying on home appreciation which may or may not happen, many financial experts such as Suze Orman
advise against interest-only loans for which a borrower would not otherwise qualify. The types of interest-only loans that rely on home appreciation would be negative amortization
loans, which most financial institutions discontinued in mid-2008.
A recent study published by the Chicago Federal Reserve Board verified that most Americans can benefit from funding tax deferred accounts rather than paying down mortgage balances. Homeowners sometimes use interest-only loans for freeing up monthly cash to fund retirement accounts. 3.4 million households don't contribute at all to their retirement but accelerate the pay down their mortgages. "Those households are losing from 11 to 17 cents for each dollar they put into a faster mortgage payoff", per the Chicago Federal Reserve study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research
and reiterated in the Chicago Tribune.
in the 1980s and 1990s a popular way to buy a house was to combine an interest-only loan with an endowment policy
, the combination being known as an endowment mortgage
. Homeowners were told that the endowment policy would cover the mortgage and provide a lump sum in addition. Many of these endowment policies were poorly managed and failed to deliver the promised amounts, some of which did not even cover the cost of the mortgage. This mis-selling, combined with the poor stock market performance of the late 1990s, has resulted in endowment mortgages becoming unpopular.
s. A pool of securities (typically mortgages) is created, and divided into tranche
s. The cashflows that are received from the underlying debts are spread through the tranches according to predefined rules, an Interest-only (IO) loan is one type of tranche that can be created, it is generally created in tandem with a principal only (PO) tranche. These tranches will cater to two particular types of investors, depending on whether the investors are trying to increase their current yield (which they can get from an IO), or trying to reduce their exposure to prepayments of the loans (which they can get from a PO).
Many homeowners saw the values of their homes increase by as much as four times its price in some markets in a five-year span in the early 2000s. Interest-only loans helped homeowners afford more home and earn more appreciation during this time period. However, interest-only loans have contributed greatly to creating the subsequent housing bubble situation, because many borrowers could not afford the fully indexed rate. Interest-only loans may turn out to be bad financial decisions if housing prices drop, causing those borrowers to carry a mortgage larger than the value of the house, which in turn will make it impossible to refinance the house into a fixed-rate mortgage.
Loan
A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....
in which, for a set term, the borrower pays only the interest on the principal balance
Principal balance
Principal balance, in regards to a mortgage or other debt instrument, is the amount due and owing to satisfy the payoff of the underlying obligation....
, with the principal balance unchanged. At the end of the interest-only term the borrower may enter an interest-only mortgage, pay the principal, or (with some lenders) convert the loan to a principal and interest payment (or amortized
Amortization (business)
In business, amortization refers to spreading payments over multiple periods. The term is used for two separate processes: amortization of loans and amortization of intangible assets.-Amortization of loans:...
) loan at his/her option.
US interest-only mortgages
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a five- or ten-year interest-only period is typical. After this time, the principal balance is amortized
Amortization
Amortization is the process of decreasing, or accounting for, an amount over a period. The word comes from Middle English amortisen to kill, alienate in mortmain, from Anglo-French amorteser, alteration of amortir, from Vulgar Latin admortire to kill, from Latin ad- + mort-, mors death.When used...
for the remaining term. In other words, if a borrower had a thirty-year mortgage loan
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
and the first ten years were interest only, at the end of the first ten years, the principal balance would be amortized for the remaining period of twenty years. The practical result is that the early payments (in the interest-only period) are substantially lower than the later payments. This gives the borrower more flexibility because he is not forced to make payments towards principal. Indeed, it also enables a borrower who expects to increase his salary substantially over the course of the loan to borrow more than he would have otherwise been able to afford, or investors to generate cashflow when they might not otherwise be able to. During the interest-only years of the mortgage, the loan balance will not decrease unless the borrower makes additional payments towards principal. Under a conventional amortizing mortgage, the portion of a payment that represents principal is very small in the early years (the same period of time that would be interest-only).
Interest-only loans represent a somewhat higher risk for lenders, and therefore are subject to a slightly higher interest rate. Combined with little or no down payment, the adjustable rate (ARM) variety of interest only mortgages are sometimes indicative of a buyer taking on too much risk- especially when that buyer is unlikely to qualify under more conservative loan structures. Because a homeowner does not build any equity in an interest-only loan he may be adversely affected by prevailing market conditions at the time he is either ready to sell the house or refinance. He may find himself unable to afford the higher regularly amortized payments at the end of the interest only period, unable to refinance due to lack of equity, and unable to sell if demand for housing has weakened.
Due to the speculative aspects of relying on home appreciation which may or may not happen, many financial experts such as Suze Orman
Suze Orman
Susan "Suze" Lynn Orman is an American financial advisor, author, motivational speaker, and television host.Orman was born in Chicago and received her B.A. in social work. She worked as a waitress in Berkeley, California before becoming a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch...
advise against interest-only loans for which a borrower would not otherwise qualify. The types of interest-only loans that rely on home appreciation would be negative amortization
Negative amortization
In finance, negative amortization, also known as NegAm, deferred interest or graduated payment mortgage, occurs whenever the loan payment for any period is less than the interest charged over that period so that the outstanding balance of the loan increases...
loans, which most financial institutions discontinued in mid-2008.
A recent study published by the Chicago Federal Reserve Board verified that most Americans can benefit from funding tax deferred accounts rather than paying down mortgage balances. Homeowners sometimes use interest-only loans for freeing up monthly cash to fund retirement accounts. 3.4 million households don't contribute at all to their retirement but accelerate the pay down their mortgages. "Those households are losing from 11 to 17 cents for each dollar they put into a faster mortgage payoff", per the Chicago Federal Reserve study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...
and reiterated in the Chicago Tribune.
UK interest-only mortgages
Interest-only loans are popular ways of borrowing money to buy an asset that is unlikely to depreciate much and which can be sold at the end of the loan to repay the capital. For example, second homes, or properties bought for letting to others. In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the 1980s and 1990s a popular way to buy a house was to combine an interest-only loan with an endowment policy
Endowment policy
An endowment policy is a life insurance contract designed to pay a lump sum after a specified term or on death. Typical maturities are ten, fifteen or twenty years up to a certain age limit...
, the combination being known as an endowment mortgage
Endowment mortgage
An endowment mortgage is a mortgage loan arranged on an interest-only basis where the capital is intended to be repaid by one or more endowment policies. The phrase endowment mortgage is used mainly in the United Kingdom by lenders and consumers to refer to this arrangement and is not a legal...
. Homeowners were told that the endowment policy would cover the mortgage and provide a lump sum in addition. Many of these endowment policies were poorly managed and failed to deliver the promised amounts, some of which did not even cover the cost of the mortgage. This mis-selling, combined with the poor stock market performance of the late 1990s, has resulted in endowment mortgages becoming unpopular.
Canada does not have interest-only mortgages
It is possible, though extremely rare, to obtain a Canadian Interest Only payment or first few payments on a standard amortizing mortgage.From an investor's perspective
Interest-only loans are sometimes generated artificially from structured securities, particularly CMOCollateralized mortgage obligation
A collateralized mortgage obligation is a type of financial debt vehicle that was first created in 1983 by the investment banks Salomon Brothers and First Boston for U.S. mortgage lender Freddie Mac. A collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) is a type of financial debt vehicle that was first...
s. A pool of securities (typically mortgages) is created, and divided into tranche
Tranche
In structured finance, a tranche is one of a number of related securities offered as part of the same transaction. The word tranche is French for slice, section, series, or portion, and is cognate to English trench . In the financial sense of the word, each bond is a different slice of the deal's...
s. The cashflows that are received from the underlying debts are spread through the tranches according to predefined rules, an Interest-only (IO) loan is one type of tranche that can be created, it is generally created in tandem with a principal only (PO) tranche. These tranches will cater to two particular types of investors, depending on whether the investors are trying to increase their current yield (which they can get from an IO), or trying to reduce their exposure to prepayments of the loans (which they can get from a PO).
Many homeowners saw the values of their homes increase by as much as four times its price in some markets in a five-year span in the early 2000s. Interest-only loans helped homeowners afford more home and earn more appreciation during this time period. However, interest-only loans have contributed greatly to creating the subsequent housing bubble situation, because many borrowers could not afford the fully indexed rate. Interest-only loans may turn out to be bad financial decisions if housing prices drop, causing those borrowers to carry a mortgage larger than the value of the house, which in turn will make it impossible to refinance the house into a fixed-rate mortgage.
See also
- Mortgage loanMortgage loanA mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
- Endowment policyEndowment policyAn endowment policy is a life insurance contract designed to pay a lump sum after a specified term or on death. Typical maturities are ten, fifteen or twenty years up to a certain age limit...
- UK mortgage terminologyUK mortgage terminology-Introduction:The UK mortgage market is one of the most innovative and competitive in the world. Most borrowing is funded by either mutual organisations or proprietary lenders...
- Balloon payment mortgageBalloon payment mortgageA balloon payment mortgage is a mortgage which does not fully amortize over the term of the note, thus leaving a balance due at maturity. The final payment is called a balloon payment because of its large size. Balloon payment mortgages are more common in commercial real estate than in...
- United States housing bubbleUnited States housing bubbleThe United States housing bubble is an economic bubble affecting many parts of the United States housing market in over half of American states. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and may not yet have hit bottom as of 2011. On December 30, 2008 the...