Adjustable versus fixed loans

With a fixed-rate loan, your payment never changes for the entire duration of your mortgage. The longer you pay, the more of your payment goes toward principal. Your property taxes may go up (or rarely, down), and so might the homeowner's insurance in your monthly payment. But generally monthly payments on your fixed-rate mortgage will be very stable.

At the beginning of a a fixed-rate loan, the majority the payment goes toward interest. This proportion reverses itself as the loan ages.

You might choose a fixed-rate loan in order to lock in a low interest rate. Borrowers select fixed-rate loans when interest rates are low and they wish to lock in the lower rate. If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) now, refinancing with a fixed-rate loan can provide greater consistency in monthly payments. If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) now, we'll be glad to help you lock in a fixed-rate at the best rate currently available. Call Taurus Mortgage Corporation at (877) 682-8787 for details.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages — ARMs, as we called them above — come in many varieties. Generally, the interest rates for ARMs are determined by an outside index. Some examples of outside indexes are: the 6-month CD rate, the 1 year rate on Treasure Securities, the Federal Home Loan Bank's 11th District Cost of Funds Index (COFI), or others.

Most Adjustable Rate Mortgages feature this cap, so they can't increase over a certain amount in a given period. Some ARMs can't increase more than 2% per year, regardless of the underlying interest rate. Your loan may feature a "payment cap" that instead of capping the interest rate directly, caps the amount that the monthly payment can go up in a given period. Almost all ARMs also cap your rate over the duration of the loan.

ARMs most often feature the lowest, most attractive rates toward the beginning of the loan. They usually guarantee the lower rate from a month to ten years. You've likely read about 5/1 or 3/1 ARMs. In these loans, the initial rate is fixed for three or five years. It then adjusts every year. These kinds of loans are fixed for a certain number of years (3 or 5), then adjust after the initial period. Loans like this are often best for borrowers who anticipate moving within three or five years. These types of adjustable rate programs are best for borrowers who will sell their house or refinance before the loan adjusts.

Most borrowers who choose ARMs do so because they want to take advantage of lower introductory rates and do not plan on staying in the house for any longer than the introductory low-rate period. ARMs can be risky in a down market because homeowners could be stuck with increasing rates if they cannot sell their home or refinance at the lower property value.

Have questions about mortgage loans? Call us at (877) 682-8787. It's our job to answer these questions and many others, so we're happy to help!