An FDA (Federal Department of Agriculture) loan means a government low-interest loan system designed for people who are unable to take advantage of a standard mortgage. The main features of FDA loans are that there is no down payment and that the borrower may only purchase a home in clearly designated rural or suburban areas.

Broadly speaking, a lender or a creditor is a loan provider, that is a person or legal entity giving funds to a borrower on the condition that they will be returned within a certain period of time and in a certain amount. The basis on which the borrower must satisfy the creditor is the contract, which specifies all the conditions under which the creditor provides the funds to the borrower. The lender has the option of assigning a loan to another person. In such a case, however, he or she must notify the borrower.

A jumbo loan is a mortgage for the ammount that exceeds the Federal Housing Finance Agency's approved loan limits for a particular state. Real estate prices vary greatly in different regions of the United States, so the limit above which a loan acquires jumbo status ranges from about $400,000 to $800,000.

A loan estimate is an approximate form of credit calculation that allows a potential borrower to consider the basic conditions and payments for a particular loan proposal. A loan estimate is sent to a client by a lending institution within three days after the application is submitted, but before its actual approval.

There are several classifications of loans, so let's consider the most common one. According to it, there are three loan categories: bank, commercial and state. In its turn, bank loans are divided into personal, mortgage, loan on overdraft, factoring, forfeiting and intrabank loans. Commercial loans may be of the following types: signature, trade and advance. Finally, the state category is subdivided into state loan, subventions, grants, transfers and state tax loan.

A loan to value (LTV) ratio shows how much of the value of the property a borrower acquires a creditor is ready to lend him or her. Since this is usually a mortgage loan, the LTV essentially shows how much of the value of the property you already own and how much you are able to pay as a down payment. This will directly affect the interest rate and terms of the loan. Moving to specific numbers, a good LTV ratio would be 80% for conventional loans and 95% for FHA loans.