Financial Terms Explained

0% financethe item being repossessed by the lender, who will
An interest-free loan -- you repay only the amountthen sell it to recover the outstanding debt.
of money you borrow. Such loans are often offeredInterest only
on items that manufacturers or dealers are keen toYour regular repayments to the lender cover only
sell, perhaps because it is an unpopular model or it isthe interest accrued during the regular repayment
about to be replaced by a new model. The depositsperiod. The capital amount of your original borrowing
might be large, sometimes up to 50% of the list priceremains the same, and must be repaid at some fixed
of the item.future date.
APRMGFV
Annual percentage rate. The true cost of a loan,Minimum guaranteed future value. Most vehicle
including all the interest and concomitant charges andmanufacturers guarantee that a car will be worth a
fees. The lower the APR is, the cheaper is the loan.certain amount at the end of the personal contract
Balloon paymentpurchase (PCP) payment period, usually equal to the
The final payment at the end of a personal contractfinal lump sum you can pay to buy the car outright. If
purchase (PCP).the car is worth less than this, you can hand it back
Bank base rateto clear the loan. If it is worth the same or more,
The interest rate set by the national bank. Financeyou may be able to use its value as a deposit on a
houses add their own percentage to the base ratenew car.
to calculate interest on loans. When the bank basePCP
rate changes, lenders' rates change accordingly.Personal contract purchase. The monthly repayments
Capital amountare made lower by setting aside part of the vehicle's
The amount that you borrow from a lender.value as a lump sum to be paid at the end of the
Compound interestloan period. You can either pay the lump sum and
The most common type of interest, where interestown the car outright, or use your stake in the car as
accumulates not only on the amount you borrow, buta deposit to buy a new one.
also on the interest itself if your regular repaymentsPersonal loan
are less than the interest accrued during the regularThis is similar to hire purchase (HP), but the loan is
repayment period.unsecured; so, the lender cannot repossess the item
Conditional saleif you do not repay the debt. The lender can,
Another term for hire purchase (HP).however, still sue you in Court to recover the money
Cost to changestill owed.
The difference between the trade-in price a dealerPX
would give you for your car and the cost of the carShort for part-exchange, meaning that you trade in
you would buy from the dealer.your car or other item as partial payment to get a
Depositnew one. Its part-exchange value is usually
The amount of money you pay towards the cost ofconsidered to be much less than its actual value,
the item at the time of the purchase.because the trader must resell it.
DepreciationRepayment mortgage or loan
The amount of money the item loses in value over aYour regular repayments are greater than the
given period, usually annually.interest accrued during the regular repayment period.
Early repaymentThus, the capital amount that you borrowed
If you decide to repay a fixed-term loan before itsdecreases gradually. This means that the accrued
termination date, the lender will almost certainlyinterest proportion of the repayments and the
charge you an early repayment penalty. Such penaltyamount you owe both become steadily less, until the
usually decreases over time, until it disappearscapital amount is paid off completely.
altogether after a stated period.Residual value
EquityThe value of your new car or other item after a
The difference between the prevailing value of thespecified period of time and/or usage, according to
item and the amount of money you still owe for it. Iftrade reckoning. For example, three years or 60, 000
what you owe is greater than the value of the item,miles, in the case of a car.
it is called 'negative equity'.Secured loan
FeesA loan which gives the lender a lien on your property.
Extra charges added by the lender. Be careful toIf you default on the loan, the lender can take
understand the full costs of the loan by looking atpossession of the property, and sell it to recover the
the annual percentage rate (APR).debt.
Flat rateSimple interest
The amount of interest payable per year as a directSee 'Flat rate'.
proportion of the amount borrowed, withoutTrade value
compounding. It is also called simple interest.The estimated price your car or other item would
HPfetch if sold at auction or by one dealer to another.
Hire purchase. The total amount you pay, i.e., theIt is always much lower than the price dealers charge
purchase price of the item plus any interestretail customers.
throughout the entire repayment period, is dividedUnsecured loan
into equal monthly payment instalments. Only afterA loan which does not give the lender a lien on your
you have paid the final instalment does the itemproperty. There is greater risk to the lender, and
belong to you. Failure to repay the loan will result insuch loans are therefore more expensive.