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A mortgage is a method of using property as security for the payment of a debt.

Technically the term mortgage (from Law French, lit. "dead pledge") refers to the legal device used in securing the property, but it is also commonly used to refer to the debt secured by the mortgage.

In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans secured on real estate rather than other property (such as ships) and in some cases only land may be mortgaged. Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals or businesses can purchase residential or commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately.

In many countries it is normal for home purchase to be funded by a mortgage. In countries where the demand for home ownership is highest, strong domestic markets have developed; notably in Great Britain, Spain & USA.

Participants and variant terminology

Each legal system tends to share certain concepts but varies in the terminology and jargon they use.

In general terms the main participants in a mortgage are:

The creditor - variously referred to as the mortgagee or lender.

They have legal rights to the debt secured by the mortgage and often make a loan to the debtor of the purchase money for the property. Typically creditors are banks, insurers or other financial institutions who make loans available for the purpose of real estate purchase.

The debtor(s) - variously referred to as the mortgagor(s) or borrower(s).

They must meet the requirements of the mortgage conditions (and often the loan conditions) imposed by the creditor in order to avoid the creditor enacting provisions of the mortgage to recover the debt. Typically the debtors will be the individual home-owners, landlords or businesses who are purchasing their property by way of a loan.

Other Participants

Due to the complicated legal exchange (conveyance) of the property one or both of the main participants are likely to require legal representation. The terminology varies with legal jurisdiction, see: lawyer, solicitor and conveyancer.

Due to the complex nature of many markets the debtor may approach a mortgage broker or financial adviser to help them source an appropriate creditor typically by finding the most competitive loan.

The debt is sometimes referred to as the hypothecation. Legal Aspects

There are essentially two types of legal mortgage:

Mortgage by demise - The creditor becomes the owner of the mortgaged property until the loan is repaid in full (known as "redemption"). This kind of mortgage takes the form of a conveyance of the property to the creditor, with a condition that the property will be returned on redemption.

This is an older form of legal mortgage and is less common than a mortgage by legal charge.

Mortgage by legal charge (also known as standard security in Scotland) - The debtor remains the legal owner of the property, but the creditor gains sufficient rights over it to enable them to enforce their security, such as a right to take possession of the property or sell it.

To protect the lender, a mortgage by legal charge is usually recorded in a public register. Since mortgage debt is often the largest debt owed by the debtor, banks and other mortgage lenders run title searches of the real property to make certain that there are no mortgages already registered on the debtor's property which might have higher priority. Tax liens, in some cases, will come ahead of mortgages. For this reason, if a borrower has delinquent property taxes, the bank will often pay them to prevent the lienholder from foreclosing and wiping out the mortgage.

This type of mortgage is common in US and, since 1925, it has been the usual form of mortgage in England and Wales. History

At common law, a mortgage was a conveyance of land that on its face was absolute and conveyed a fee simple estate, but which was in fact conditional, and would be of no effect if certain conditions were not met --- usually, but not necessarily, the repayment of a debt to the original landowner. Hence the word "mortgage," Law French for "dead pledge;" that is, it was absolute in form, and unlike a "live gage", was not conditionally dependent on its repayment solely from raising and selling crops or livestock, or of simply giving the fruits of crops and livestock coming from the land that was mortgaged. The mortgage debt remained in effect whether or not the land could successfully produce enough income to repay the debt. In theory, a mortgage required no further steps to be taken by the creditor, such as acceptance of crops and livestock, for repayment.

The difficulty with this arrangement was that the lender was absolute owner of the property and could sell it, or refuse to reconvey it to the borrower, who was in a weak position. Increasingly the courts of equity began to protect the borrower's interests, so that a borrower came to have an asbolute right to insist on reconveyance on redemption. This right of the borrower is known as the "equity of redemption".

This arrangement, whereby the mortgagee (the lender) was on theory the absolute owner, but in practice had few of the practical rights of ownership, was seen in many jurisdictions as being awkwardly artificial. By statute the common law position was altered so that the mortgagor would retain ownership, but the mortgagee's rights, such as foreclosure, the power of sale and the right to take possession would be protected.

In the United States, those states that have reformed the nature of mortgages in this way are known as lien states. A similar effect was achieved in England and Wales by the Law of Property Act 1925, which abolished mortgages by the conveyance of a fee simple. In the U.S. mortgages got really started in 1934. In that year the Federal Housing Administration lowered the down payment requirements by offering 80 loan-to-value loans. Next, banks, insurance companies, and other lenders followed the example. The FHA also lengthened loan terms by first introducing 15-year loans to supplant 3, 5, and 7-years loans which ended with a balloon payment.

Until the 1930s only 40% of households owned homes, the rate today is nearly 70%.

In 2003, total U.S. residential mortgage production reached a record level of $3.8 trillion through record low interest rates (though these continue to vary according to credit rating [1]). Repaying the capital

There are various ways to repay a mortgage loan depending on your locality, tax laws and prevailing culture. Capital & interest

The most common way to repay a loan is make regular payments of the capital and interest over a set term. This is commonly referred to as (self) amortization in the US and as a repayment mortgage in the UK. Depending on the size of the loan and the prevailing practise in the country the term may be short (10 years) or long (50 years plus). In the UK and US 25 to 30 years is typical. Mortgage repayments, which are typically made monthly, contain a capital element and an interest element. The amount of capital included in each repayment varies throughout the term of the mortgage. In the early years the repayments are largely interest and a small part capital. Towards the end of the mortgage the repayments are mostly capital and a small part interest. In this way the repayment amount determined at outset is calculated to ensure the loan is repaid at a specified period in the future. This gives borrowers assurance that by maintaining repayment the loan will definitely be cleared at a specified date. Interest only

The main alternative to capital and interest mortgage is an interest only mortgage where the capital is not repaid throughout the term. This type of mortgage is common in the UK especially when associated with a regular investment plan. With this arrangement a regular contributions are made to a separate investment plan designed to build up a lump sum to repay the mortgage at maturity. This type of arrangement is called an investment-backed mortgage or is often related to the type of plan used: endowment mortgage if an endowment policy is used, similarly a PEP mortgage, ISA mortgage or pension mortgage. Historically investment-backed mortgages offered various tax advantages over repayment mortgages although this is no longer the case in the UK. Investment-backed mortgages are seen as higher risk as they are dependedent on the investment making sufficient return to clear the debt.

It is not uncommon for interest only mortgage to be arranged without a repayment vehicle with the borrrower gambling that the property market will rise sufficiently for the loan to be repaid by trading down at retirement or for other less well thought-out reasons. No capital or interest

For older borrowers (typically in retirement) it is possible to arrange a mortgage where neither the capital nor interest is repaid. The interest is rolled up with the capital increasing the debt each year.

These arrangements are variously called reverse mortgages, lifetime mortgages or equity release mortgages in different countries. The loans are typically not repaid until the borrowers die, hence the age restriction. For further details see equity release. Interest and partial capital

In the US a partial amortization or balloon loan is one where the amount of monthly payments due are calculated (amortized) over a certain term, but the outstanding capital balance is due at some point short of that term. In the UK a part repayment mortgage is quite common especially where the original mortgage was investment-backed and on moving house further borrowing is arranged on a capital & interest (repayment) basis. Mortgages in the US

Mortgage loan types

There are many types of mortgage loans. The two basic types of amortized loans are the fixed rate mortgage (FRM) and adjustable rate mortgage (ARM).

In a FRM, the interest rate, and hence monthly payment, remains fixed for the life (or term) of the loan. In the U.S., the term is usually for 10, 15, 20, or 30 years.

In an ARM, the interest rate is fixed for a period of time, after which it will periodically (annually or monthly) adjust up or down to some market index. Common indices in the U.S. include the Prime Rate, the LIBOR, and the Treasury Index ("T-Bill"). Other indexes like 11th District Cost of Funds Index, COSI, and MTA, are also available but are less popular.

Adjustable rates transfer part of the interest rate risk from the lender to the borrower, and thus are widely used where unpredictable interest rates make fixed rate loans difficult to obtain. Since the risk is transferred, lenders will usually make the initial interest rate of the ARM's note anywhere from 0.5% to 2% lower than the average 30-year fixed rate.

In most scenarios, the savings from an ARM outweigh its risks, making them an attractive option for people who are planning to keep a mortgage for ten years or less.

A partial amortization or balloon loan is one where the amount of monthly payments due are calculated (amortized) over a certain term, but the outstanding principal balance is due at some point short of that term. A balloon loan can be either a Fixed or Adjustable in terms of the Interest Rate. Many Second Trust mortgages use this feature. The most common way of describing a balloon loan uses the terminology X due in Y, where X is the number of years over which the loan is amortized, and Y is the year in which the principal balance is due.