Controversy

Despite their commonplace nature, RALs are controversial. Supporters of the practice say the loans allow people access to funds immediately in cases of an emergency such as overdue medical bills, credit payments, and other debts while they wait for the IRS to process their income tax return. Processing of a tax return can take anywhere from one week to a month and a half. Fees for these loans are in line with industry wide standards for non-secured loans.[citation needed] Supporters of RALs may also contend that many individuals are not entirely truthful when completing their taxes, and that banks take a great risk relying on the word of an individual that his or her tax refund will be received in the amount claimed.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refund_Anticipation_Loan

Canadian interest only mortgages

Some interest-only mortgages in Canada allow the borrower to pay interest-only, principal and interest, or even principal and interest plus 20% extra. An interest-only mortgage in Canada can be combined with corporate bonds in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) where the plan holder receives a tax deduction, tax deferral, and compound interest.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest-only_loan

References

Financial markets • Investment management • Financial institutions • Personal finance • Public finance • Mathematical finance • Financial economics • Experimental finance • Computational finance

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance

Other Terminologies

Like any other legal system, the mortgage business sometimes uses confusing jargon. Below are some terms explained in brief. If a term is not explained here it may be related to the legal mortgage rather than to the loan.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_loan

Mortgage loan basics

Mortgage loans are generally structured as long-term loans, the periodic payments for which are similar to an annuity and calculated according to the time value of money formulae. The most basic arrangement would require a fixed monthly payment over a period of ten to thirty years, depending on local conditions. Over this period the principal component of the loan (the original loan) would be slowly paid down through amortization. In practice, many variants are possible and common worldwide and within each country.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_loan

Unsecured

These may be available from financial institutions under many different guises or marketing packages:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loans#References

Classification of assets

Assets may be classified in many ways. In a company's balance sheet certain divisions are required by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which vary from country to country.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset