A lender loan is an agreement between a lender and a borrower in which the lender agrees to cover all or part of the borrower's closing costs in exchange for an increase in the interest rate of the loan. However, a lender credit, for example, cannot be used in reference to a down payment.

The minimum amount of down payment for a conventional loan is 3% of the loan amount. However, as a rule, this figure is higher, because credit history and other factors are taken into account, which increase the risks for the lender and require appropriate compensation.

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.

A hard money loan is a specialized type of asset-based lending by which a borrower obtains funds secured by real estate. Hard money loans are usually issued by private investors or companies. As with any other secured loan, the interest rate on such a loan is lower than usual due to the presence of a collateral.

The Grad Plus (Graduate PLUS) loan is a type of Federal educational loan granted by the US Department of Education for the purposes of further training and professional development. The specifics of this loan are that it is issued directly by the U.S. government and involves a low fixed interest rate. In order to be able to apply for the Grad Plus loan, one must be a citizen or a permanent resident of the USA.

An installment loan is a very broad term that essentially includes any loan with a clear repayment schedule and number of payments (installments). Therefore, in this sense, a standard mortgage contract is also an installment loan.

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.

The basic way is to break down your balance by month and apply the interest rate you consider. However, this leaves amortization and additional options, such as insurance, behind the scenes. Moreover, there are two methods of calculating a loan payment: annuity and differential, each with its own formula. To make things easier, you can use a free loan calculator.

Contrary to popular belief, getting a loan to a person with a bad credit history is quite possible. There is even such a term as a 'bad credit loan'. Not a single financial institution directly advertises such a service, but in fact many of them work with problem borrowers. The only significant nuance: because of a bad credit history, creditors have to hedge themselves by increasing the interest rate and tightening the conditions.

Before taking out a consumer loan, it is worth calculating all the interest and overpayments in advance, so that you understand the acceptability of the loan offer before applying. This way you will know in advance how much you will need to pay each month to repay the loan. Loan payments are most often calculated using two payment schemes: annuity and differential. Which of them is applied in a particular proposal is specified in the loan agreement. Knowing the formula of a particular scheme, you can calculate the amount of the monthly payment and know in advance its full amount with all the overpayments. In rare cases, a bank offers to choose the scheme.

A pay day loan is a type of short-term personal credit without collateral. The service got its name due to very popular need among the population to urgently get a small amount of money until the next paycheck. Pay day loans are mostly issued by microfinance organizations, but large banks do not refuse this segment of the credit market either.