Interest Only Mortgage Loans - Understanding the Risks Before You Borrow

Interest only mortgages can be an excellent tool for aa short term financial need; however, problems arise
short-term financial need. It is important to know whatwhen homeowners that do not fully understand
you're getting into with an interest only loan before youinterest only mortgages use them for the wrong
borrow. Here are several tips to help you keep youreasons.
out of trouble when financing your home with anDisadvantages of Interest Only Mortgages
interest only mortgage.Many homeowners use interest only mortgages to
Traditional mortgage loans have monthly paymentspurchase their homes because of easy qualification
that are amortized for the entire duration of the loan.and low payments. Many of these homeowners don't
This means every month that you make a payment,realize the interest only payments only last for a short
part of that payment is applied to your financeperiod of time. At the end of the interest only period
charges in the form of interest, and part is applied tothe lender converts your loan to a standard Adjustable
pay down the principle loan balance. Interest only homeRate Mortgage and will add the loan principle back into
loans are different than traditional mortgages in thatyour payment. When this happens your entire loan
they do not have fully amortized payments during thebalance will be amortized for the remaining duration of
interest only period.your loan. Suppose you took out a 30 year interest
Interest Only Mortgage Paymentsonly mortgage for $250,000 with a five year interest
For the first part of your mortgage loan, the interestonly period. At the end of the interest only period your
only period specified in your loan contact, your monthlypayment will be based on paying $250,000 back over
payment is based solely on the amount of interest due25 years. This results in a significantly higher mortgage
that month. Because there is no loan principle includedpayment.
in your payment amount, interest only payments areYou can learn more about your mortgage refinancing
much lower than traditional mortgage loans. Savvyoptions including costly mistakes to avoid by registering
homeowners can use interest only payments to meetfor a free mortgage tutorial.