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A classification of mortgages in which the risk profile falls between prime and subprime. Alt-A mortgages are generally considered higher risk than prime due to factors that may include higher loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios or limited documentation of the borrower’s income.
- Browse Related Terms: "Bait-and-switch" schemes, Alt-A Mortgages, Balloon Payment, cash-out refinancing, Collections, Delinquency, Home improvement scams, Loan flip, Loan modification, Mortgage Modification, Prepayment penalty, Prime, Prime Mortgages, Refinance, Subprime, Subprime Mortgages
Any change involving an erasure or rewriting in the date, amount, or payee of a check or other negotiable instrument.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of the Treasury - Cite This Source - This DefinitionAny change involving an erasure or rewriting in the date, amount, or payee of a check or other negotiable instrument.
- Browse Related Terms: Alteration, Canceled Check, certificate of deposit, Check 21 Act, Check truncation, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Encoding, Forgery, money forwarder [transmitter] and issuer of money orders and travelers checks, Return Item, Substitute check, Time certificate of deposit
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Any change involving a deletion or rewriting in the date, amount, or payee of a check or other negotiable instrument.
- Browse Related Terms: Alteration, Draft, Escrow agent, Financial instrument, Forgery, Negotiable, Power of attorney, Return Item, Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
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The official selected by the agency head to act in the capacity of the Designated Agency Ethics Official in the event of his/her absence. In FDM, an ADAEO and any Deputy DAEOs are authorized to certify financial disclosure reports for the agency.
- Browse Related Terms: Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official (ADAEO), Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO), Ethics Counselor (EC) or Ethics Official, OGE 450 Filer, Reporting Individual, Reviewing Official, Schedule C Employee, SF 278 Filer, Special Government Employee (SGE)
Alternative employment is a bona fide offer of a similar employment opportunity with the same employer or secondary employer, at equivalent or higher compensation and benefits than the position from which the U.S. worker was discharged, as well as a similar level of authority, discretion, and responsibility, a similar opportunity for advancement within the organization, and similar tenure and work scheduling.
- Browse Related Terms: Alternative employment, Area of intended employment, Commuting area, displacement, Displacement inquiry, Employ American Workers Act (EAWA), Employed, employed by the employer, or employment relationship, Employer, Exempt employee (FLSA), Exempt H-1B worker, Full-time equivalent employees, Independent authoritative source, Indicia of an employment relationship, Lay off, Secondary displacement
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The alternative minimum tax (AMT) was designed to ensure that all taxpayers pay at least the minimum federal income tax for their income level, no matter how many deductions or credits they claim.
The AMT is actually an extra tax, calculated separately and added to the amount the taxpayer owes in regular income tax. Some items that are usually tax exempt become taxable and special tax rates apply. For example, income on certain tax-free bonds is taxable.
Increasing numbers of taxpayers trigger the AMT if they deduct high state and local taxes or mortgage interest expenses, exercise a large number of stock options, or have significant tax-exempt interest.
- Browse Related Terms: adjusted gross income (AGI), Alternative minimum tax (AMT), Deduction, Earned Income Credit (EIC), Exemption, Head of household, Modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), Real property tax, Tax credit
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Any mortgage other than a fixed interest rate, level payment, amortizing loan. Includes variable rate mortgages, rollover loans, graduated payment mortgages, shared appreciation mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages, growing equity mortgages.
- Browse Related Terms: Alternative mortgage instrument (AMI), Buydown Account, closed-end mortgage, Fixed payment mortgage, fixed-rate mortgage, graduated payment mortgage (GPM), Graduated Payment Mortgages, Growing-Equity Mortgage (GEM), Low-Down-Payment Feature, Property Appreciation, Variable payment plan
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A financial disclosure report that has been changed and eSigned by the filer after the filer has submitted the report. Any financial disclosure report that is Under Review can be amended by the filer. Amending a report voids any eSignatures that were on the report when the filer amended it.
- Browse Related Terms: Amended, Amended Date, Amendment in Progress, Complete, End Review, Filing Date, Review Chain, Review Date, Reviewer, Self Registration, Signature Date, Submitted, Submitted Date, Under Review, Wrap up
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Date that a filer eSigned again, changes made to a report that was previously submitted.
- Browse Related Terms: Amended, Amended Date, Amendment in Progress, Complete, End Review, Filing Date, Review Chain, Review Date, Reviewer, Self Registration, Signature Date, Submitted, Submitted Date, Under Review, Wrap up
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A financial disclosure report that is Under Review and currently being changed by the filer. Amending a report voids any eSignatures that were on the report when the filer started the amendment. The filer must eSign again the financial disclosure report before a reviewer can eSign it.
- Browse Related Terms: Amended, Amended Date, Amendment in Progress, Complete, End Review, Filing Date, Review Chain, Review Date, Reviewer, Self Registration, Signature Date, Submitted, Submitted Date, Under Review, Wrap up
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Features of your home that fit your preferences and can increase the value of your property. Some examples include the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, or vicinity to public transportation.
- Browse Related Terms: amenities, Assessed Value, assessment, Assessor, Capital Improvements, Credit Related Expenses, Credit Related Losses, Demolition, Flood Certification Fee, Property tax, Special assessment, variance
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A feature of the home or property that serves as a benefit to the buyer but that is not necessary to its use; may be natural (like location, woods, water) or man-made (like a swimming pool or garden).
- Browse Related Terms: Amenity, Bracket Sign, Landscape improvement, maintenance costs, Mature tree, Occupiable space, Real property, Story, utility costs
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The goal of this independent, nonprofit organization is teaching individual investors how to manage their assets effectively.
Headquartered in Chicago, the AAII offers publications, seminars, educational programs, software and videos, and other services and products to its members. The AAII website (www.aaii.org) also provides a wide range of information about investing and personal finance.
- Browse Related Terms: American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), Excepted Investment Fund (EIF), Investment Club, Lipper, Inc, Morningstar, Inc., Separate account, Separate account fund, Subaccount, Underlying Assets, Value Line, Inc., Widely Diversified
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Shares of hundreds of major overseas-based companies, including names such as British Petroleum, Sony, and Toyota, are traded as ADRs on US stock markets in US dollars.
ADRs are actually receipts issued by US banks that hold actual shares of the companies' stocks. They let you diversify into international markets without having to purchase shares on overseas exchanges or through mutual funds.
- Browse Related Terms: American depositary receipt (ADR), Annuity unit, Block trade, Capital appreciation, Exchange-traded fund (ETF), expense ratio, Institutional fund, Mark to the market, Net asset value (NAV), Offshore fund, Open-end mutual fund, Proprietary fund, share, Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipt (SPDR), Underlying investment, Unit investment trust (UIT), Unit trust
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When a company based overseas wants to sell its shares in the US markets, it can offer them through a US bank, which is known as the depositary.
The depositary bank holds the issuing company's shares, known as American depositary shares (ADSs), and offers them to investors as certificates known as American depositary receipts (ADRs). Each ADR represents a specific number of ADSs.
ADRs are quoted in US dollars and trade on US markets just like ordinary shares. While hundreds are listed on the major exchanges, the majority are traded over the counter, usually because they're too small to meet exchange listing requirements.
- Browse Related Terms: After-hours market, American depositary share (ADS), Bellwether, Composite trading, DIAMONDs, Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR), Listed security, Listing requirement, Nikkei Stock Average, Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB), Regional exchange, Restricted security, Unlisted security
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Enacted in 2009, this Act authorized a series of measures intended to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending.
- Browse Related Terms: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Conservatorship, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act), Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), Inspector General Act, Inspector General Reform Act, Interest Rate Risk
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The American Society of Home Inspectors is a professional association of independent home inspectors. Phone(800) 743-2744
- Browse Related Terms: American Society of Home Inspectors, Broker, Closing Date, Commission, Exclusive Listing, FSBO (For Sale by Owner), key lot, Listing Agreement, Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Open House, Real Estate Agent, Real Estate Professional, REALTOR®, Savings and loan association (S&L), Take out loan, Trade Equity, Transfer Taxes
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The AMEX is the second-largest floor-based stock exchange in the US after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
It operates an auction market in stocks (including overseas stocks), exchange traded funds, and derivatives, including options on many NYSE-traded and over-the-counter (OTC) stocks.
- Browse Related Terms: American Stock Exchange (AMEX), Auction market, Big Board, Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Index, Exchange, Futures exchange, Market, Market price, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Opening, Over-the-counter (OTC), Primary market, Specialist's display book, Ticker (tape), Ticker symbol, Trading symbol
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A listed option that you can exercise at any point between the day you purchase it and its expiration date is called an American style option. All equity options are American style, no matter where the exchange on which they trade is located.
In contrast, you can exercise European style options only on the last trading day before the expiration date, not before. Index options listed on various US exchanges may be either American- or European-style options.
- Browse Related Terms: American-style option, Base Price, Dealer Sticker Price, European style option, Expiration cycle, Expiration date, Last trading day, Long-term equity anticipation securities (LEAPS), Options class, Options series, Quadruple witching day
Americans with Disabilities Act establishes a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.).
- Browse Related Terms: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Early cessation penalty, Fringe benefits, Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Liquidated damage (LD), Procedural failure, Retaliation, state, Technical failures, United States worker
The process of reducing debt through regular installment payments of principal and interest that will result in the payoff of a loan at its maturity.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of the Treasury - Cite This Source - This DefinitionThe process of reducing debt through regular installment payments of principal and interest that will result in the payoff of a loan at its maturity.
- Browse Related Terms: amortization, Charge-off, Collection agency, Consumer Credit Counseling Service, Credit Repair Organization, Debt collector, Debtor, Deferred payment, Guarantor, Pre-payment, Prepayment, Prepayment Clause, Principal Balance
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The process of reducing debt through regular installment payments of principal and interest that will result in the payoff of a loan at its maturity.
Amortization is the gradual repayment of a debt over a period of time, such as monthly payments on a mortgage loan or credit card balance.
To amortize a loan, your payments must be large enough to pay not only the interest that has accrued but also to reduce the principal you owe. The word amortize itself tells the story, since it means "to bring to death."
- Browse Related Terms: amortization, Asset-backed bond, Credit card account agreement, Date of maturity, Debt-to-income ratio (DTI), Deferred payment, Delinquency, Honorarium, Late Charge, Maturity Date, Payment Due Date, Prepayment, Self-amortizing loan
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the process of paying off a debt by making regular installment payments over a set period of time, at the end of which the loan balance is zero.
Departments of the Treasury & Housing and Urban Development, Making Home Affordable Program - Cite This Source - This DefinitionThe process of fully paying off indebtedness by installments of principal and earned interest over a specific amount of time.
- Browse Related Terms: Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM), amortization, balloon mortgage, Convertible ARM, Debarment, Fixed-Rate Mortgage (FRM), Interest-only mortgage, Lock-In, Lock-in agreement, Mortgage life insurance, Negative amortization, Payment Cap, Right of rescission, Self-Amortizing Loans, Swap, term, Weighted Average Life (WAL)
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A payment plan that enables you to reduce your debt gradually through monthly payments. The payments may be principal and interest, or interest-only. The monthly amount is based on the schedule for the entire term or length of the loan.
The liquidation of a debt by regular, usually monthly, installments of principal and interest. An amortization schedule is a table showing the payment amount, interest, principal and unpaid balance for the entire term of the loan.
The process of fully paying off indebtedness by installments of principal and earned interest over a specific amount of time.
Payment of a debt in equal installments of principal and interest, rather than interest only payments.
- Browse Related Terms: amortization, balloon mortgage, Balloon note, Balloon Payment, biweekly mortgage, Biweekly Payment Mortgage, curtailments, fifteen-year mortgage, Flexible payment mortgage (FPM), Installment Debt, Interest-only loan, Level payment mortgage, Mortgage Life and Disability Insurance, Negative amortization, Partial Payment, Prepayment, Prepayment penalty, Prepayment Penalty Mortgage (PPM), Principal and interest payment (P & I), Remaining Term, Reverse annuity, term
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The gradual reduction of debt by periodic payment sufficient to pay current interest and to eliminate the principal at maturity. This is also the term used for gradual reduction/writing off over a period of time in the book value of fixed or intangible assets, deferred charges and prepaid expenses, bond discount and bond premium, etc.