Naturally, this sounds like a "mean" way to do business, but in most cases this "commitment" period is what actually makes the loan, interest rate and payments affordable in the first place. The bank made a higher risk loan but still offered a below market rate; in return, we either pay them for the privilege over time (monthly payments) or pay it all at once (the "penalty"). In any event, prepayment period should NEVER, EVER extend past the Fixed Rate Period.

Minimum payment rates are used to calculate payments in a couple different ways. The most common way is for the low 1% or 1.5% rate to be used as if it were a 30 year fixed rate. So instead of making a payment at a 7.5% interest rate on a 30 year fixed loan, you could make a payment as if your rate were 1.5%. Just remember that the difference between the interest portion of your payment at 7.5% and the payment at 1.5% will have to be paid back. It's not a free lunch.

These numbers vary by lender and can depend upon the strength of a borrower. A no ratio loan does not look at a debt to income ratio. The income is fully documented, but there are no qualifying ratios that the borrower needs to meet.

What has happened to many banks is that in their agreements with Wall Street investors, if there is a certain default ratio, they would need to buy back the loans. With the declining housing market, adjusting interest rates and other market factors, the default ratio has increased significantly. Wall Street investors enforced the buy back agreements which made banks buy back billions of dollars in loans. This effectively eliminated the bank's ability lend and put them into bankruptcy.

So the bottom line is before any change in liability on the loan can take place, the lender must be involved, either to permit someone to come onto title, or to prequalify someone assume the mortgage. Keep in mind that the mortgage and the title are two separate things. If the lender allows someone to come onto title, that doesn't put them on the mortgage, nor does it remove the original owner. The only way to accomplish that goal is to see if your loan is assumable or have the interested party complete a purchase of the property.

Some people have begun to refer to HELOC and HELOAN interchangeably. If it's a situation where it makes a difference to you, such as someone talking about a loan you qualify for, it would behoove you to clarify.

So a I apologize, but this question will be answered with averages. From my education, the lowest period for mortgage rates was around May of 2004. In the 60's and early 70's rates were also quite low.

If you want to learn more about a mortgage payoff acceleration program, I encourage you to email me to sign up for one of our free live trainings. We provide this service with no strings attached and no sales pitch simply to get the word out about mortgage acceleration. That brings up another point: be wary of someone aggressively trying to "pitch" you on the idea of MA. Don't get me wrong, I believe it's a great thing, but anyone with enough experience with MA should only present it to you as an option, with positives and negatives just like any other option.

Stated Income loans are designed for self employed borrowers who can't show their full income with documentation because they usally have tax write offs that make it look like they did not earn as much. So they go stated where they can state their honest gross income. They usually have a slightly higher interest rate to get this privilege.

If you go to a hard money broker, the loan will be a piece of cake, but you will end up paying the broker as well (this isn't necessarily a bad thing if the broker finds you a much better deal than you could have found on your own).