What is the difference between the interest rate and the A.P.R.?

Youll see an interest rate and an Annual Percentage Rate (A.P.R.) for each mortgage loan you see advertised. The easy answer to why is that federal law requires the lender to tell you both.

The A.P.R. is a tool for comparing different loans, which will include different interest rates but also different points and other terms. The A.P.R. is designed to represent the true cost of a loan to the borrower, expressed in the form of a yearly rate. This way, lenders cant hide fees and upfront costs behind low advertised rates.

While its designed to make it easier to compare loans, its sometimes confusing because the A.P.R. includes some, but not all, of the various fees and insurance premiums that accompany a mortgage. And since the federal law that requires lenders to disclose the A.P.R. does not clearly define what goes into the calculation, A.P.R.s can vary from lender to lender and loan to loan.

The A.P.R. on a loan tied to a market index, like a 5/1 ARM, assumes the market index will never change. But ARMs were invented because the market index changes and makes fixed rate loans cheaper or more expensive to make -- thats why theyre variable rate in the first placed!

So, A.P.R.s are at best inexact. The lesson is that A.P.R. can be a guide, but you need a mortgage professional to help you find the truly best loan for you.

Note when youre browsing for loan terms that the A.P.R. will not tell you about balloon payments or prepayment penalties, or how long your rate is locked. Also, you will see that A.P.R.s on 15-year loans will carry a higher relative rate due to the fact that points are amortized over a shorter period of time.