Frequent Asking Questions: What are Points? A. There are several types of mortgage related costs called "points" and their definitions and purposes vary. Generally, points are costs that must be paid to a lender in order to receive mortgage financing under specified terms. One point means 1% of the loan amount. 1% Disount point means, it will cost you 1% of the loan amount to buy the rate down by mostly .25% ( 1/4 of a rate ). 1 point origination fee means, it will cost you 1% of the loan amount by a lender or a broker to do the loan for you. What does it mean to "lock" the interest rate? A. Due to interest rate movements, mortgage rates can change between the day you apply and the day you close. To protect against uncertainty, a lender can " lock-in " and gurantee you or 30, 60, 90, or 120 days. The longer the days are the higher the rate will be. What is the lowest down payment I can use or a down payment on my home purchase? A. A 20% down payment used to be a standard, and most lenders today allow the buyer to put down as little as 5% down, or $5,000 on $100,000 loan. In fact, over 75% o the borrowers are now putting 0% down payment. If you put 20% down, then you will not pay PMI ( private mortgage insurance ) monthly to insure the loan for the lender. However, if you have a credit score below 620 and aquire a sub prime loan ( higher rate ), you will not pay PMI. PMI is only applied on prime loans ( prime rates ) with less than 20% down payment. The more down payment you put, the less will the monthly payment on the mortgage. |
