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I think asdf is referring to a standard repayment mortgage, where each month's payment contains an element to pay off interest and another to pay off principal with the relative ratios of the interest-element and the principal-element gradually changing as you progress through the lifetime of the instrument - ie. practically 100% interest-element at the start to practically 100% principal-element at the end.

If you have an interest-only mortgage, then this incentive does indeed exist (assuming that interest-only loans are tax-deductible of course - I don't know what the situation is Stateside, but the UK no longer gives tax relief for any kind of mortgage interest). It's balanced by the need to have a chunk of ready cash available to pay off the principal at the point  when the mortgage reaches term of course.

Regards
Luke

-- #include witty_sig.h

by silburnl on Fri Aug 22nd, 2008 at 10:44:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, thank you, that was the case I was referring to.

Over here, most mortgages are fixed payment for the entire term, typically 30 years. "Creative" mortgages have all sorts of variations, including several types where your payment can balloon up after a few years. These tend to be the ones that get people into trouble.

by asdf on Sat Aug 23rd, 2008 at 09:45:38 PM EST
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