Home Loans & Mortgage Loans Better Understood (Part-1)

In our first post on the above series, we shall be looking at Home Loans and Mortgage loans more from the Indian perspective, understand a bit of different interests rates available in the market and how banks service

Mortgage Loan – Definition

Mortgage loan generally refers to the loan secured by pledging an already existing home for financial needs. This definition is purely in Indian context. In India Home loans are for purchasing a new home where the disbursement of the loan amount is made in full by the financier / banks or for constructing new home where the disbursement is released in stages by the financier / banks vis-à-vis the progress made in the construction.

Typically in western countries Mortgage loan generally refers to all types of Home loans. According to Anglo-American property law, a mortgage occurs when an owner pledges his or her rights to the property, as a collateral to the loan.

As like any other loans, mortgage loans and / or home loans comes with interest rate and the payment is by generally EMI as per the amortization schedule spread over a repayment period ranging from 20 years to 30 years depending on the policies of the financier / bank that provides with the loan.

Now let us see some popular terminologies used in the financial circle when dealing with mortgage or home loans;

Property: The physical residence being financed in question here refers the property.

Borrower: The person borrowing the loan in exchange to mortgaging his / her interest on the property who in other words is either having or is creating an ownership interest in the property is called a Borrower.

Lender: Usually a bank or other financial institution qualifies to be called a Lender. Typically In India, lenders can also be individuals who lend money. In America, lenders may also be investors who own an interest in the mortgage through a mortgage-backed security. In such a situation, the initial lender is known as the mortgage originator, which then packages and sells the loan to investors. The payments from the borrower are thereafter collected by a loan servicer.

Principal: The original size of the loan, which may or may not include certain other cost refers to the Principal Amount. As and when principal amount is repaid in parts, the principal will go down in size and the loan interest is calculated for the remaining Principal amount only.

Interest: A financial charge for use of the lender’s money is referred as Interest. There are many different varieties of Interests employed by bankers. We shall discuss them elaborately in our next post.

Foreclosure or Repossession: The possibility that the lender has to foreclose, repossess or seize the property after paying the principal along with the applicable interest and other charges if any is essential to any mortgage loan.