Definition of Mortgage duration

Mortgage duration

A modification of standard duration to account for the impact on duration of MBSs of
changes in prepayment speed resulting from changes in interest rates. Two factors are employed: one that
reflects the impact of changes in prepayment speed or price.

Alternative mortgage instruments

Variations of mortgage instruments such as adjustable-rate and variablerate
mortgages, graduated-payment mortgages, reverse-annuity mortgages, and several seldom-used
variations.

Closed-end mortgage

mortgage against which no additional debt may be issued.

Collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO)

A security backed by a pool of pass-throughs , structured so that
there are several classes of bondholders with varying maturities, called tranches. The principal payments from
the underlying pool of pass-through securities are used to retire the bonds on a priority basis as specified in
the prospectus.
Related: mortgage pass-through security

Conventional mortgage

A loan based on the credit of the borrower and on the collateral for the mortgage.

Dollar duration

The product of modified duration and the initial price.

Duration

A common gauge of the price sensitivity of an asset or portfolio to a change in interest rates.

Effective duration

The duration calculated using the approximate duration formula for a bond with an
embedded option, reflecting the expected change in the cash flow caused by the option. Measures the
responsiveness of a bond's price taking into account the expected cash flows will change as interest rates
change due to the embedded option.

Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation)

A Congressionally chartered corporation that
purchases residential mortgages in the secondary market from S&Ls, banks, and mortgage bankers and
securitizes these mortgages for sale into the capital markets.

GEMs (growing-equity mortgages)

mortgages in which annual increases in monthly payments are used to
reduce outstanding principal and to shorten the term of the loan.

GMCs (guaranteed mortgage certificates)

First issued by Freddie Mac in 1975, GMCs, like PCs, represent
undivided interest in specified conventional whole loans and participations previously purchased by Freddie Mac.

Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)

A wholly owned U.S. government corporation
within the Department of Housing & Urban Development. Ginnie Mae guarantees the timely payment of
principal and interest on securities issued by approved servicers that are collateralized by FHA-issued, VAguaranteed,
or Farmers Home Administration (FmHA)-guaranteed mortgages.

Graduated-payment mortgages (GPMs)

A type of stepped-payment loan in which the borrower's payments
are initially lower than those on a comparable level-rate mortgage. The payments are gradually increased over
a predetermined period (usually 3,5, or 7 years) and then are fixed at a level-pay schedule which will be
higher than the level-pay amortization of a level-pay mortgage originated at the same time. The difference
between what the borrower actually pays and the amount required to fully amortize the mortgage is added to
the unpaid principal balance.

Macaulay duration

The weighted-average term to maturity of the cash flows from the bond, where the
weights are the present value of the cash flow divided by the price.

Modified duration

The ratio of Macaulay duration to (1 + y), where y = the bond yield. Modified duration is
inversely related to the approximate percentage change in price for a given change in yield.

Mortgage

A loan secured by the collateral of some specified real estate property which obliges the borrower
to make a predetermined series of payments.

Mortgage bond

A bond in which the issuer has granted the bondholders a lien against the pledged assets.
Collateral trust bonds

Mortgage pass-through security

Also called a passthrough, a security created when one or more mortgage
holders form a collection (pool) of mortgages sells shares or participation certificates in the pool. The cash
flow from the collateral pool is "passed through" to the security holder as monthly payments of principal,
interest, and prepayments. This is the predominant type of MBS traded in the secondary market.

Mortgage pipeline

The period from the taking of applications from prospective mortgage borrowers to the
marketing of the loans.

Mortgage-pipeline risk

The risk associated with taking applications from prospective mortgage borrowers
who may opt to decline to accept a quoted mortgage rate within a certain grace period.

Mortgage rate

The interest rate on a mortgage loan.

Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation

A wholly owned subsidiary of the Midwest Stock
Exchange that operates a clearing service for the comparison, netting, and margining of agency-guaranteed
MBSs transacted for forward delivery.

Mortgage-backed securities

Securities backed by a pool of mortgage loans.

Mortgagee

The lender of a loan secured by property.

Mortgager

The borrower of a loan secured by property.

Negative duration

A situation in which the price of the MBS moves in the same direction as interest rates.

Open-end mortgage

mortgage against which additional debts may be issued. Related: closed-end mortgage.

RAMs (Reverse-annuity mortgages)

mortgages in which the bank makes a loan for an amount equal to a
percentage of the appraisal value of the home. The loan is then paid to the homeowner in the form of an
annuity.

REMIC (real estate mortgage investment conduit)

A pass-through tax entity that can hold mortgages
secured by any type of real property and issue multiple classes of ownership interests to investors in the form
of pass-through certificates, bonds, or other legal forms. A financing vehicle created under the Tax Reform
Act of 1986.

Strip mortgage participation certificate (strip PC)

Ownership interests in specified mortgages purchased
by Freddie Mac from a single seller in exchange for strip PCs representing interests in the same mortgages.
Stripped bond Bond that can be subdivided into a series of zero-coupon bonds.

Stripped mortgage-backed securities (SMBSs)

Securities that redistribute the cash flows from the
underlying generic MBS collateral into the principal and interest components of the MBS to enhance their use
in meeting special needs of investors.

Wholesale mortgage banking

The purchasing of loans originated by others, with the servicing rights
released to the buyer.

Duration

The weighted average of the time until maturity of each of the
expected cash flows of a debt security

Duration

The expected life of a fixed-income security considering its coupon
yield, interest payments, maturity, and call features. As market interest rates
rise, the duration of a financial instrument decreases. See Macaulay duration.

Macaulay duration

A widely used measure of price sensitivity to yield
changes developed by Frederick Macaulay in 1938. It is measured in years and
is a weighted average-time-to-maturity of an instrument. The Macaulay
duration of an income stream, such as a coupon bond, measures how long, on
average, the owner waits before receiving a payment. It is the weighted
average of the times payments are made, with the weights at time T equal to
the present value of the money received at time T.

Modified duration

The Macaulay duration discounted by the per-period
interest rate; i.e., divided by (1+rate/frequency).

Insured Mortgage

An insured mortgage protects only the mortgage lender in case you do not make your mortgage payments. This coverage is provided by CMHC [Canada mortgage and Housing Corporation] and is required if a person has a high-ratio mortgage. [A mortgage is high-ratio if the amount borrowed is more than 75% of the purchase price or appraised value, whichever is less.]

Mortgage Insurance

Commonly sold in the form of reducing term life insurance by lending institutions, this is life insurance with a death benefit reducing to zero over a specific period of time, usually 20 to 25 years. In most instances, the cost of coverage remains level, while the death benefit continues to decline. Re-stated, the cost of this kind of insurance is actually increasing since less death benefit is paid as the outstanding mortgage balance decreases while the cost remains the same. Lending institutions are the most popular sources for this kind of coverage because it is usually sold during the purchase of a new mortgage. The untrained institution mortgage sales person often gives the impression that this is the only place mortgage insurance can be purchased but it is more efficiently purchased at a lower cost and with more flexibility, directly from traditional life insurance companies. No matter where it is purchased, the reducing term insurance death benefit reduces over a set period of years. Most consumers are up-sizing their residences, not down-sizing, so it is likely that more coverage is required as years pass, rather than less coverage.
The cost of mortgage lender's insurance group coverage is based on a blended non-smoker/smoker rate, not having any advantage to either male or female. mortgage lender's group insurance certificate specifies that it [the lender] is the sole beneficiary entitled to receive the death benefit. mortgage lender's group insurance is not portable and is not guaranteed. Generally speaking, your coverage is void if you do not occupy the house for a period of time, rent the home, fall into arrears on the mortgage, and there are a few others which vary by institution. If, for example, you sell your home and buy another, your current mortgage insurance coverage ends and you will have to qualify for new coverage when you purchase your next home. Maybe you won't be able to qualify. Not being guaranteed means that it is possible for the lending institution's group insurance carrier to cancel all policy holder's coverages if they are experiencing too many death benefit claims.
mortgage insurance purchased from a life insurance company, is priced, based on gender, smoking status, health and lifestyle of the purchaser. Once obtained, it is a unilateral contract in your favour, which cannot be cancelled by the insurance company unless you say so or unless you stop paying for it. It pays upon the death of the life insured to any "named beneficiary" you choose, tax free. If, instead of reducing term life insurance, you have purchased enough level or increasing life insurance coverage based on your projection of future need, you can buy as many new homes in the future as you want and you won't have to worry about coverage you might loose by renewing or increasing your mortgage.
It is worth mentioning mortgage creditor protection insurance since it is many times mistakenly referred to simply as mortgage insurance. If a home buyer has a limited amount of down payment towards a substantial home purchase price, he/she may qualify for a high ratio mortgage on a home purchase if a lump sum fee is paid for mortgage creditor protection insurance. The only Canadian mortgage lenders currently known to offer this option through the distribution system of banks and trust companies, are General Electric Capital [GE Capital] and Central mortgage and Housing Corporation [CMHC]. The lump sum fee is mandatory when the mortgage is more than 75% of the value of the property being purchased. The lump sum fee is usually added onto the mortgage. It's important to realize that the only beneficiary of this type of coverage is the morgage lender, which is the bank or trust company through which the buyer arranged their mortgage. If the buyer for some reason defaults on this kind of high ratio mortgage and the value of the property has dropped since being purchased, the mortgage creditor protection insurance makes certain that the bank or trust company gets paid. However, this is not the end of the story, because whatever the difference is, between the disposition value of the property and whatever sum of unpaid mortgage money is outstanding to either GE Capital or CMHC will be the subject of collection procedures against the defaulting home buyer. Therefore, one should conclude that this kind of insurance offers protection only to the bank or trust company and absolutely no protection to the home buyer.

Commercial Mortgage

A loan made on real estate collateral, other than a residential property, in which a mortgage is given to secure payment of principal and interest.

Mortgage

Debt instrument by which the borrower (mortgagor) gives the lender (mortgagee) a lien on property as security for the repayment of a loan.

Duration

The time it takes for a policy or annuity to reach maturity.

Mortgage Life insurance (Credit Insurance)

Decreasing term life insurance that provides a death benefit amount corresponding to the decreasing amount owed on a mortgage.

Mortgage (Credit Insurance)

An agreement between a creditor and a borrower, where the creditor has loaned an amount to the borrower for purposes of purchasing a loan secured by a home.

Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation

Better known as CDIC, this is an organization which insures qualifying deposits and GICs at savings institutions, mainly banks and trust companys, which belong to the CDIC for amounts up to $60,000 and for terms of up to five years. Many types of deposits are not insured, such as mortgage-backed deposits, annuities of duration of more than five years, and mutual funds.

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