Conventional Loans

conventional loan is a mortgage that is not insured or guaranteed by the federal government. A conventional loan adheres to the guidelines and maximum loan amount set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored-enterprises which were created by the federal government to buy and sell conventional mortgages.

A conventional loan can have a fixed rate or adjustable rate. The most common type of conventional loan is a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, which means the interest rate is fixed and will not change for the entire 30 year term of the loan.

A conventional loan usually requires at least a 5% down payment, but can be as much as 20% down payment depending on factors such as your credit score, the type of property and occupancy. If your down payment is less than 20% you will be required to obtain private mortgage insurance (PMI).

Fixed Rate

A mortgage that has a fixed interest rate for the entire term of the loan. The distinguishing factor of a fixed-rate mortgage is that the interest rate over every time period of the mortgage is known at the time the mortgage is originated. The benefit of a fixed-rate mortgage is that the homeowner will not have to contend with varying loan payment amounts that fluctuate with interest rate movements.

Adjustable Rate

So what is an adjustable-rate mortgage?

variable-rate mortgageadjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), or tracker mortgage is a mortgage loan with the interest rate on the note periodically adjusted based on an index which reflects the cost to the lender of borrowing on the credit markets.

The loan may be offered at the lender’s standard variable rate/base rate. There may be a direct and legally defined link to the underlying index, but where the lender offers no specific link to the underlying market or index the rate can be changed at the lender’s discretion. The term “variable-rate mortgage” is most common outside the United States, whilst in the United States, “adjustable-rate mortgage” is most common, and implies a mortgage regulated by the Federal government,[2] with caps on charges. In many countries, adjustable rate mortgages are the norm, and in such places, may simply be referred to as mortgages.

Among the most common indices are the rates on 1-year constant-maturity Treasury (CMT) securities, the Cost of Funds Index (COFI), and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). A few lenders use their own cost of funds as an index, rather than using other indices. This is done to ensure a steady margin for the lender, whose own cost of funding will usually be related to the index. Consequently, payments made by the borrower may change over time with the changing interest rate (alternatively, the term of the loan may change). This is distinct from the graduated payment mortgage, which offers changing payment amounts but a fixed interest rate. Other forms of mortgage loan include the interest-only mortgage, the fixed-rate mortgage, the negative amortization mortgage, and the balloon payment mortgage.

Adjustable rates transfer part of the interest rate risk from the lender to the borrower. They can be used where unpredictable interest rates make fixed rate loans difficult to obtain. The borrower benefits if the interest rate falls but loses if the interest rate increases. The borrower benefits from reduced margins to the underlying cost of borrowing compared to fixed or capped rate mortgages.