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

A borrower who is shopping for the best mortgage rate can easily be seduced by low rate offers that are accompanied by low Annual Percentage Rates (APR). Federal Law requires that APR be disclosed along side the actual interest rate…this is in order to help borrowers make a more informed decision on their mortgage. The truth is that APR is a very poor way to comparison shop for a mortgage and can cause borrowers to make costly wrong decisions.

APR was created in order to provide a way for borrowers to account for costs associated with the mortgage. This sounds good because it may not be very easy to choose between a loan with a lower rate and higher fees or a loan at a higher rate and low fees. The problem is that the APR calculation makes some very bad assumptions. First, APR assumes zero inflation and that the value or buying power of a Dollar today will be exactly equal to the value of a Dollar 10, 20 even 30 years from now. Next, the APR calculation assumes that the mortgage will never be prepaid or paid off. That means no refinancing or selling the home…highly unlikely since the average life of a home mortgage loan is less than four years. Just think, about your own clients. Is it not rare to see the same loan in place for even 5-years…forget 30-years. The APR calculation does not consider the value of the money used for fees. So if you spent thousands of dollars in points or fees to get a lower rate, the APR calculation does not give any value to the money if it were not spent on closing costs. Finally, APR does not take tax consequences into consideration. This can be significant since higher fees on the mortgage may not be deductible while the higher interest rate typically is deductible. Moreover, APR can be manipulated, making it totally worthless.

While it's designed to make it easier to compare loans, it's 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.

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