A 5/1 arm loan is actually an adjustable-rate long-term mortgage. If talking about the meaning of '5' and '1' figures, it is as follows. '5' means five years during which you have a fixed interest rate, and '1' means one year, which states frequency of changing of your interest rate after the expiration of the first five years. Sometimes these changes might be significant, so you have to start paying way more than before.

A HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) is a loan with an agreed repayment period, in which the borrower's real estate or his share in the real estate is pledged as collateral. In this case, the borrower does not receive the entire amount, as in a conventional loan, but gets access to a credit line, which may be then used at his or her own discretion and in any amount.

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.

In essence, a loan estimate is the same thing as a loan disclosure, only in a preliminary form and solely for introductory purposes. It is a document containing detailed information on the selected loan proposal, including the interest rate, term, repayment schedule, etc.

Although the range of interest rates offered by U.S. lending institutions in 2021 varies from 3% to 36%, the average interest rate for personal loans has remained about the same for the past 2-3 years, namely 11-12%. Of course, this figure is purely theoretical, because in practice everything depends on a variety of factors and criteria.

For checking your loan status through Small Business Administration, you can contact SBA hotline and address consultants any question you have. In case you applied via the COVID-19 portal, SBA specialists will call you, as well as you might be able to use a pay-free hotline.

PMI (private mortgage insurance) cost for FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans depends on some factors such as credit history and LTV (loan to value) ratio and amounts to $30 to $70 a month.

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.

A subprime loan is a loan that is accompanied by a high level of risk for the lender. Most often the cause of high risk is the status of the borrower (poor credit history, low income, etc.) or the terms of the loan (no collateral for a high loan amount, poor quality of collateral).

A jumbo loan is a mortgage that exceeds a certain limit set by the U.S. government. It should be noted that the specific value for a loan to be called jumbo varies for each state, mortgage type, and year. For example, in 2021, the limit on an FHA loan for a single-family property in many states is $548,250.

The key difference between secured and unsecured loans lies in their very name. Secured loans are guaranteed by the borrower's property or assets, which protects the lender to a much greater extent. Unsecured loans do not require collateral, so there is more risk for the lender. These risks need to be compensated somehow, so the terms and requirements in unsecured loans are tougher than in secured loans.