Posts Tagged ‘loan’

What is a Loan?

Posted by admin in Economics on January 16th, 2009

A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower. The borrower initially receives an amount of money from the lender, which they pay back, usually but not always in regular instalments, to the lender. This service is generally provided at a cost, referred to as interest on the debt.

Acting as a provider of loans is one of the principal task for financial institutions. For banks loans are generally funded by deposits. For other institutions issuing of debt contracts, such as bonds is a typical source of funding.

Other types of debt include mortgages, credit card debt, bonds, and lines of credit. A mortgage is a very common type of debt instrument, used by many individuals to purchase housing. In this arrangement, the money is used to purchase the property. The bank, however, is given the title to the house until the mortgage is paid off in full. If the borrower defaults on the loan, the bank can reposess the house and sell it, to get their money back.

The abuse in the granting of loans is known as predatory lending. It usually involves granting a loan in order to put the borrower in a position that one can gain advantage over them.

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What is a Predatory Lending?

Posted by admin in Economics on January 16th, 2009

In the strictest and legal sense, predatory lending refers to secured loans such as home or car loans which are made by the lender with the intention that the borrower will not repay the loan, allowing the lender to seize the car or home and sell it for a profit. Colloquially, the term has been expanded to refer to the practice of convincing borrowers to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms. Such loans could take place either through outright deception or through aggressive sales tactics, taking advantage of borrowers’ lack of understanding of extremely complicated transactions. For instance, predatory loans for the purchase of a home could lead to foreclosure. Opponents of predatory lending often include transactions such as tax refund anticipation loans (or RALs), pay day loans, and credit cards, along with mortgage lending, in the term. The terminology is thus loaded, where proponents and opponents often intentionally blur the line between the two definitions in order to make their case sound better.

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