Balloon payment mortgage
type of mortgage where a large final payment is expected instead of a longer payment period
A balloon payment mortgage is a mortgage that does not fully amortize over the term of the note, thus leaving a balance due at maturity. The final payment is called a balloon payment because of its large size. Balloon payment mortgages are more common in commercial real estate than in residential real estate today due to the prevalence of mortgages with longer periods of amortization, in particular, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. A balloon payment mortgage may have a fixed or a floating interest rate. The most common way of describing a balloon loan uses the terminology X due in Y, where X is the number of years over which the loan is amortized, and Y is the year in which the principal balance is due.
An example of a balloon payment mortgage is the seven-year Fannie Mae Balloon, which features monthly payments based on a thirty-year amortization. In the United States, the amount of the balloon payment must be stated in the contract if Truth-in-Lending provisions apply to the loan. Most commonly, term lengths are five or seven years.
Because borrowers may not have the resources to make the balloon payment at the end of the loan term, a "two-step" mortgage plan may be used with balloon payment mortgages. Under the two-step plan, sometimes referred to as "reset option," the mortgage note "resets" using current market rates and using a fully amortizing payment schedule.
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