Standard Mortgage Blog

A home buyer can acquire a lower interest rate by paying discount points at closing. Discount points or prepaid interest points are a one-time fee that is paid upfront, creating a lower interest rate over the term of the mortgage. When your interest rate is lower, your monthly payment becomes lower and more affordable. Let’s take a closer look at how you can get a lower interest rate.

There are a number of different components to your monthly mortgage payment. Typically, the two big ones are principal and interest. If you escrow, you may also have a portion of your payment going towards taxes and insurance. Depending on your type of loan and down payment, you may or may not be required to escrow for your taxes and insurance. Since your mortgage investor has a lien on your..

An amortization schedule is a table that lists each monthly payment that you’ll make on your mortgage, and how much each payment will be allocated to your lender’s interest and toward your principal balance. With a fixed-rate mortgage, you have peace of mind knowing that your principal and interest portions of your monthly payment will remain the same across the life of the loan. However, the..