|
Cheap Home Loan
By: Danny Wirken
Cheap Home Loans: What is an APR?
"APR" is one of the most misunderstood terms in the world of home mortgages.
While you might know that it means "Annual Percentage Rate", you may not know
that it includes more than the interest rate. APR is a figure used to determine
the yearly cost of a new home loan including all other fees like points,
origination fees, and lending fees. A lot see this as something hidden yet it is
a clear amount being paid on mortgage.
Years ago, it was hard to determine the total cost of a home mortgage without
reading all of the fine print or using a sophisticated mortgage calculator.
While one lender might offer you a 7.50% interest rate and another offers you
6.00%, the better deal isn't so obvious. Overall, the 6.00% loan could be much
more expensive with all of additional fees.
The federal government requires lenders to quote APR because loans frequently
are offered on different terms. To extend the inevitable fruit analogy,
differing loan terms from different lenders can make it hard to figure out which
offer is a sour persimmon and which is a real peach. APR helps you identify the
peaches.
APR's are Your Friend
To address deceptive marketing tactics, the federal government enacted the Truth
in Lending Act, which required that lenders advertise and make explicit the
Annual Percentage Rate associated with their new home loans. The upshot is that
APRs are your friend; they allow you to compare offers from different lenders on
a level playing field.
However, the APR system is not perfect. In some cases the Annual Percentage Rate
won't include extra fees such as title insurance and appraisal. In general, the
best method for loan shopping is to ask for a good-faith estimate, which details
all costs and gives you a total estimated cost of the loan using a mortgage
calculator.
APR takes into account some costs of getting the loan, including points, most
loan fees and mortgage insurance. It does not take into account certain charges,
including non-refundable application fees, late payment charges, title insurance
premiums, and fees for title examination, property appraisals and document
preparation.
Home Loans - Do Your Research
The important thing to remember is that the APR is a good basis for comparison
between new home loan offers. When you get further in the process, you can dig
deeper to get yourself the best deal possible.
About the Author:
For more information please visit
www.444.net. |