What cosigning a loan means

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.

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.

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 bridge loan is an interim or auxiliary loan issued by a bank for a period of up to 1 year at a fairly high interest rate to cover the borrower's current obligations. Usually such a loan is a temporary measure until funds are available from the main source of financing. Such a loan can be taken out by both individuals and legal entities. It is especially widespread in the field of venture capital financing, which is an investment in a business in order to receive a percentage of the total profits in the future.

A personal unsecured loan is a personal loan issued by a lender without any collateral from the borrower's side. Of course, unsecured loans are accompanied by an increased risk of the borrower's default, so the interest rate is much higher and the maximum loan amount is much lower than for secured loans.

A loan origination fee is a one-time payment, usually ranging from 0.5% to 1% of the total loan amount, charged by the lender to compensate the costs for processing the loan application. In general, loan origination fees are not required by all loan originating agencies. In fact, they can be even negotiated before you sign a contract. In most cases, however, the absence of a loan origination fee as a separate payment simply increases the interest rate correspondingly.

The main difference is that with a conventional loan the borrower is required to pay mortgage insurance only if the down payment is less than 20%, and with FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgage insurance is paid regardless of the size of the down payment. There is also a difference in the maximum loan amount.

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 recourse loan or debt entails personal liability of the borrower. A non-recourse loan does not allow the lender to claim anything other than collateral. For example, if someone fails to repay a non-recourse mortgage loan, athe lender may only foreclose on the real estate that was the collateral.

A payday loan is a small short-term unsecured loan, usually issued by microfinance institutions. The issuance of such loans depends on the consumer's previous wages and employment history. Legislation on payday loans varies widely from state to state. To prevent usury (unreasonable and excessive interest rates), some jurisdictions limit the annual interest rate a lender can charge. Additionally, payday loans assume a higher rate of default on the loan.

A VA loan is a mortgage loan secured by Veterans Benefits Administration that is designed for U.S. military veterans and certain members of their families. It is important to understand that the Veterans Benefits Administration is not a lender, it only supervises terms and conditions of VA loans issued by private lending institutions, including banks.

To understand the big picture when choosing a loan offer, it is very useful to calculate the actual annual percentage rate (APR) on the loan. It includes not only the interest rate, but also all the additional fees and costs explicitly or implicitly included in the loan agreement. In principle, APR can be calculated manually using the formula, but there have long been special and very handy calculators for this purpose on the Internet.