Dual Index Mortgage
  
If you like your financial obligations married to complicated mathematical machinations, then the dual index mortgage is your dream.
Some mortgages have variable interest rates. Instead of paying 5% a year for the length of a 30-year mortgage, the interest rate moves around depending on what some other benchmark does. Most of the time, these variable rates follow a single benchmark...something like inflation or the prevailing interest rate.
So...you sign up for a mortgage that starts at 5% a year. After five years, it adjusts based on the prime rate. Rates have climbed since you signed the deal, so now the rate you pay gets adjusted upwards to 7%.
Two years down the line, rates have fallen significantly, and your mortgage rate falls with it. Now you're paying just 4%. And so on. Your rate adjust based on some index...in this case, an index tracking prevailing interest rates.
The dual index mortgage has two measures that determine where your rate goes. One of these tracks the prevailing rate, responding to an index that measures the benchmark interest rate in the economy, plus a little margin for the bank to secure a profit.
The second index usually tracks some wage benchmark. It looks at how worker salaries are holding up in the economy and bakes that into the mortgage rate as well.
Think of it like the devil and angel on the shoulder thing. On the one side, you've got an index looking out for the bank. The mortgage rate won't get too far away from the current interest rate, so the bank is always making money on the deal. On the other shoulder, you've got an index looking out for salaries. Theoretically, with this benchmark in play, the payments won't get too far away from your ability to pay. Hopefully. Pray to the angel on your shoulder.
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Finance: What are the components of a mo...1 Views
Finance Allah shmoop What are the components of a mortgage
payment All right so here's a weird thing about mortgages
When you borrow say four hundred grand buy a home
and say in a six percent fixed thirty year interest
you'll end up paying way more than the four hundred
grand just in interest Renting the money Think about it
Well you'll have a monthly pay payment of twenty four
hundred bucks and by the time you've made thirty times
twelve per year or three hundred sixty payments you'll have
paid some four hundred sixty three thousand dollars in interest
charges Seems like a lot of money to pay out
of your own pocket But since mortgage interest is usually
entirely tax deductible well the rial cost to most home
borrowers is actually meaningful E less than that six percent
interest maybe something closer to a three and a half
four percent something like that So while yes on a
total gross basis you will have paid out more than
the amount borrowed over the thirty year course in the
mortgage you'll also have been forgiven loads of taxes And
for what it's worth over most thirty year time periods
in history the market has gone up about eight to
ten percent a year on average Compound did something like
that So you feel the people mover floor moving fast
underfoot with inflation pushing things around as you go along
Well the money you borrow is the principal of the
loan and that number usually declines by a small amount
each month As you make a flat payment and it's
usually gradually paid off Check out what the principal of
four hundred grand looks like for the first twelve months
of payments right here Note that the flat monthly payment
is twenty four hundred dollars and see how the principal
payed as part of this payment loan thing there goes
from paydown of three hundred ninety eight dollars Teo Well
four hundred twenty a year later right Like you're paying
off principal little by little So you have less that's
attributed to interest And Mohr that's attributed to principal pay
down as you go along and note that this assumes
Ah flat monthly payment here Right You're paying the same
amount You're one you would You're thirty two thousand three
hundred ninety eight dollars and twenty cents on this particular
alone So after a year the amount owed an interest
is well just slightly last Here in this example it's
one thousand nine hundred seventy seven bucks down from in
a two grand and note what it looks like at
the end of each of the first five years That's
a big shift from almost entirely interest do now Principal
being ah meaningful part of it you got after ten
years right here and then at the halfway point in
fifteen years it's here So I noticed that the amount
owed at this point is roughly half the total Why
Because the lion share the pay down went to interest
in the first half of the life of the mortgage
AII those first fifteen years and well then in the
back half way more will be attributed to a principal
pay down than to interest Like check out what the
very last month's payment looks like It's just twelve dollars
of interest and two thousand three hundred eighty six dollars
of principle All of this is principal until well then
the balance is zero and we'll finally Then you will
have fully paid off your mortgage and own your home
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