Prepayment Penalty

You borrowed 300 grand from the bank. Nice, simple, conforming mortgage. You signed up for 30 years, at a fixed rate of 7%. But then rates went down a lot, and you wanted to refinance. In fact, you could pay off the mortgage if you wanted to, courtesy of your now-dead Uncle Larry.

The problem? The bank was counting on that 7% a year interest for at least 5 years before you paid off your debts. So now, after just 3 years, the bank will charge you an extra $5,000 or something in prepayment penalties for your having prepaid, or paid off your mortgage early, taking away those fat, juicy interest profits from their coffers.

That's what you get for being financially responsible (should have negotiated a 3-year instead of a 5-year window before you could prepay).