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Glossary of Notary Public, Mortgage, Signing Agent, and Loan Signing Terms.

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Common Terms 1   Common Terms 2

Acceleration Clause

This clause allows the lender to speed up the rate at which your loan comes due or even to demand immediate payment of the entire outstanding balance of the loan should you default on your loan.

Acknowledgment

This is the correct spelling of acknowledgment -- there should not be an e after the g. An acknowledgment is a notary act where the signer acknowledges signing a document before a notary public.

Addendum to the HUD

This document is prepared by the closing agent and discloses all fees and costs involved in the loan and is required by Federal Law. It includes the loan amount, loan fees, charges, proration of real estate taxes, and...

Address Certification

The Address Certification document requires the borrower to verify the address of the property mentioned in the Deed of Trust. The borrower just needs to sign that document assuming the address is correctly documented.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage

An Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) is a mortgage in which the interest rate is adjusted periodically based on a preselected index. Also sometimes known as the renegotiable rate mortgage, or the variable rate mortgage. There are 30-year fully...

Adjustable Rate Note

A Note that is included with an adjustable rate mortgage. An adjustable rate Note contains information about what the initial interest rate is, when it can be adjusted, and by how much it can be adjusted. Please see...

Adjustable Rate Rider

The Adjustable Rate Rider document calculates the interest rate and monthly payments the borrower must make with an Adjustable Rate Mortgage. The interest rate would be based on the US Treasury Index at any...

Adjustment Date

The Adjustment Date is the date on which the interest rate changes or is "adjusted" in an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). Some mortgages have multiple adjustment dates throughout the life of the mortgage.

Adjustment Interval

On an adjustable rate mortgage, the time between changes in the interest rate and/or monthly payment, typically one, three, or five years. If your adjustment interval is one year, then changes to your rate and...

Adjustment Period

The period that elapses between the adjustment dates for an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). The frequency of rate adjustments on an adjustable rate mortgage...

Administer

To give in a formal way. A notary might administer an Oath or Affirmation for example. An example of a sentence with administer could be, "The Notary administered an oath on a Jurat", or, "The Notary...

Affiant

The person who takes an oath or affirmation. The person to whom an oath or affirmation is administered who is sometimes called a deponent. Many documents will have a signature area for the affiant who swore...

Affidavit

A document that contains a statement, made under oath or affirmation, signed by the affiant and a jurat certificate signed and sealed by a notary. The most common type of affidavit that gets notarized is an...

Affirmation

A solemn statement, equivalent by law to an oath, but without religious significance or reference to a Supreme Being. Wording for Oaths and Affirmations is up to the notary, but common wording could be, "Do you...

Affix

To secure an object to another. To attach, or add to. In the notary context, affix is typically used when speaking of affixing one's stamp or seal to an instrument. The word instrument is a formal term for a...

Amortization

Amortization means loan payment by equal periodic payments calculated to pay off the debt at the end of a fixed period, including accrued interest on the outstanding balance.

Amortization Term

The amount of time required to amortize a mortgage loan. The amortization term is expressed as a number of months. For example, for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the amortization term is 360 months...

Annual Percentage Rate

The Annual Percentage Rate ( APR ) reflects the cost of a mortgage as a yearly rate. This rate is likely to be higher than the stated note rate or advertised rate on the mortgage, because it takes into account...

Annual Percentage Yield

The rate of interest earned by an account owner in a year, if no withdrawals occur. All financial institutions must calculate the Annual Percentage Yield ( APY ) in the same way.

Apostille

An Apostille is an authentication document used in countries that are Hague Convention members. To get an apostille in the United States, one generally needs to contact the state notary division from the state...

Appear Before

Notary acts require the signer or affiant to appear before the notary public. There was a case where a person in jail was in a window of a room fifty feet away. The notary could not clearly see the signer, therefore,...

Application

To become a notary, it is necessary to file an application with your state's notary division. Each state has its own requirements, so please check with your state's notary division. Contact information is available at http://www.123notary.com/statecontact.asp

Appointment

An appointment is the act of designating an individual for an office or position. The Secretary of State or notary division of a particular state could appoint an individual to become a Notary Public which is an example of how to use...

Appraisal

An appraisal is an estimate of the value of property, made by a qualified professional called an "appraiser". Part of the reason for our current loan crisis, is that many appraisers were coerced into inflating the...

Appraiser

A person qualified by education, training, and experience who estimates the value of real property and personal property. A person has to take classes to become an appraiser, and then it is common to apprentice...

Appreciation

An increase in the value of a property due to changes in market conditions or other causes. The opposite of appreciation is depreciation. In 2008 it became clear that the availability or lack of availability of credit...

APR

The APR is different from the rate. Everyone we've talked to has a different way of understanding this concept. Here is the clearest way we've come across: The APR is the annual percentage relationship between the...

Arbitration Rider

By signing an arbitration rider, the borrower consents to having an arbitrator resolve all future disagreements regarding the loan rather than settle in court. Since the lender is the party that chooses the arbitrator, the...

Asset

An asset is anything of monetary value that is owned by a person. Assets include real property, personal property, and enforceable claims against others (including bank accounts, stocks, mutual funds, and so on).

Assignment

An assignment is the transfer of a mortgage from one person to another. A written document that serves as evidence of a transfer of a loan obligation from the original borrower to a third party.

Assumable Mortgage

An assumable mortgage is one that can be taken over ("assumed") by the buyer when a home is sold. One condition of an assumable mortgage is that the lender must approve of the new home buyer. One...

Assumed Mortgage

An Assumed Mortgage is one that was taken over by the buyer when their property was sold. Assumed mortgages are desireable because the buyer can often get a lower interest rate than whatever the current rate is.

Assumption

The agreement between buyer and seller where the buyer takes over the payments on an existing mortgage from the seller. Assuming a loan can usually save the buyer money since this is an existing mortgage...

Assumption Clause

Assumption occurs where there is an Assumable Mortgage which is a type of mortgage that allows a new home buyer to take over an existing loan from the seller.

Assumption Fee

The assumption fee is a fee paid to a lender resulting from the assumption of an existing mortgage. The fee is generally paid by the purchaser. Since all loans have a variety of fees, it might be very favorable to the...

Attest

To affirm to be true, correct, or genuine; to corroborate. A document signer could attest to the fact that the contents of the document were true and correct.

Attorney in Fact

A person who has been given written authority to act on the behalf of another is an attorney in fact. The document giving the authority is a "power of attorney". Someone who is an attorney in fact may have...

Authenticate

To prove or verify as genuine. An Authentication certificate is a very important document that is from the Notary's state's Secretary of State or Notary Division that validates that the notary's seal and information are...

Automatic Transfer of Funds Document

The Automatic Transfer of Funds document is one of the few optional documents to sign in a loan package. Signers can attach a voided check and have funds automatically withdrawn from their bank account to make their....