See: Mortgage.
Fixed-rate mortgages have a single rate for the life of the loan. A fixed-rate mortgage with a 5.5% rate has you paying 5.5% each and every year for the entire 30-year span. An adjustable-rate mortgage works differently. Instead of having the same rate year after year, the rate changes based on underlying conditions. It fluctuates as overall rates change.
A mortgage index provides the basis for these fluctuations. It exists as a compilation of current rates, creating a benchmark for changes in adjustable-rate loans.
The terms of an adjustable-rate mortgage will detail which mortgage index will be used in defining the rate changes. Common choices include the prime lending rate, LIBOR, or the rate paid by U.S. Treasury notes.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Reverse Mortgage?6 Views
Finance allah shmoop What is a reverse mortgage All right
people let's start with a normal mortgage You put one
hundred grand down borrow three hundred grand and are the
proud new owner of this baby in palo alto california
You make payments for thirty years at five percent interest
and then you retire their debt free So that's a
mortgage but what's a reverse mortgage Like one of these
egg trump Well kind of at least financially the payments
go in the opposite direction of a normal mortgage Like
you're old you just want to live out your remaining
years with the basic comforts Shower seats stair lift high
absorption adult diapers You own all of your home No
mortgage on it You paid it all off The home
is now worth a million box Nice shoebox There you
can do a reverse mortgage pledging your home is an
asset and basically just receiving a payment of l say
five grand a month from that reverse mortgage and you'll
get to deduct interest costs as you go Justus if
it were a normal mortgage well after forty months you
you know croak in that time period you've taken out
Forty times five grand or two hundred grand in loans
plus some interest and you sell your home for a
cool million Rather your heirs dio So what happens now
Well they just take the million bucks from the sale
write a check for two hundred grand and change to
the bank to pay off the reverse mortgage that you
had accrued while you were you know wasting away to
nothing and your heirs end up happy like they miss
you But you know a free stair lift Who are 00:01:37.997 --> [endTime] you
Up Next
What is a mortgage? A mortgage is a loan on property. Obviously not many individuals, or companies for that matter, can or want to pay cash for the...
What is an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM)? An adjustable-rate mortgage is a mortgage that has a changing interest rate. Whatever it changes to is b...
An interest-only mortgage is a mortgage on which you only pay the rent on money borrowed, rather than on the principal.
What's a second mortgage? Easy: it comes after a first mortgage. Hit play for more details.