A finance charge on a loan is the sum of all interest and other charges and costs, including one-time charges, that the borrower will pay over the life of the loan agreement, that is, from the time the loan is signed until the last payment is made and the loan is closed. Thus, a finance charge on a loan includes not only the interest rate, but also origination fees and insurance.

A Parent PLUS Loan is a federal loan program administered by The Federal Student Aid. Under this program, parents can take out loans to pay for their children's education. What makes these loans special is that they are unsubsidized and involve an origination fee.

Collateral is a guarantee for the lender to get all the funds due under the loan agreement. In case the borrower does not fulfill his/her obligations or does not fulfill them to the full extent, the corresponding debt is to be repaid at the expense of the collateral. Collateral can be represented by residential and non-residential real estate, motor vehicles, precious metals, securities, etc. However, in fact, banks determine the list of property taken as collateral when granting loans. The property pledged as collateral under the loan must be necessarily evaluated.

First of all, you need to know under what scheme you have to pay the loan: annuity or differential. Each of the schemes has its own formula, which can be found in a couple of seconds on the Internet. The repayment scheme is spelled out in the contract. You also need to know the basic terms of the loan, including the interest rate, and any additional payments.

Of course, it very much depends on the country/state, the type of credit, your credit score, and whether the credit is secured or not. But in the broadest sense, for people with a credit score exceeding 600, an interest rate of 10-20% might be considered as good.

Although the term has a rather wide range of meanings, in general, discount points are additional fees charged by the lender when issuing a loan. Through this fee in favor of the lender, the borrower is entitled to expect an appropriate reduction in the interest rate on the loan. In each case, the borrower should carefully evaluate whether it is advantageous to pay more as an upfront fee but receive a lower interest rate for the entire term of the loan, or to choose a higher interest rate with a lower down payment.

A loan recast is the payment of a fixed amount during the term of the loan agreement aimed to cover the principal of the loan so as to reduce subsequent monthly payments for the remainder of the term of the agreement. Generally, a loan recast is used in mortgage lending by people who suddenly received a large sum of money (e.g., an inheritance).

In lending industry, subprime loan means lending to individuals who have difficulties with meeting repayment schedules or other key terms of the loan agreement. Borrowers with a FICO score below 600 are usually considered subprime, although this threshold changes over time and other criteria are added to it.

A USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) loan is a mortgage loan with no down payment issued to U.S. citizens for the purchase of real estate in rural and suburban areas. As a rule, the target audience of USDA loans are people with incomes below average, who cannot afford to buy a house in urban areas, as well as people who, for some reason, are unable to conclude a standard mortgage agreement.

A non-QM (Non-Qualified Mortgage) loan is a mortgage loan designed for borrowers who cannot qualify for a standard mortgage. Non-Qualified Mortgage loans are assessed using non-standard evaluation methods, usually without regard to credit score and similar criteria applied to Qualified Mortgage loans.

The interest rate is the portion of the principal amount of the loan that the borrower must overpay to the bank for using its money. The interest rate can be calculated according to an annuity or a differential scheme. In the first case, the total amount of the loan is divided into several months or years in equal installments. With the second, the rate is charged on the balance of the loan and decreases with each month. Rarely a bullet scheme is utilized where the interest and the principal amount of the loan are repaid separately (first the principal and then the interest, or vice versa). If the rate changes at contractually specified periods, it is considered floating. If newly accrued interest is added to the interest calculated for the previous period (interest-on-interest scheme), it is considered capitalized.