I. mort ‧ gage 1 W3 /ˈmɔːɡɪdʒ $ ˈmɔːr-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: mort 'dead' + gage 'promise' ]
1 . a legal arrangement by which you borrow money from a bank or similar organization in order to buy a house, and pay back the money over a period of years:
Your building society or bank will help arrange a mortgage.
They’ve taken out a 30-year mortgage (=they will pay for their house over a period of 30 years) .
We decided to use Fred’s redundancy money to pay off the mortgage (=pay back all the money we borrowed for a mortgage) .
Mortgage rates are set to rise again in the spring.
She was having trouble meeting her mortgage payments.
2 . the amount of money you borrow in the form of a mortgage:
If you earn £20,000 per year, then you may be able to get a mortgage of £60,000.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have a mortgage
They have a mortgage on a small house in North London.
▪ take out a mortgage (=borrow money to buy a house)
We took out a 25-year mortgage.
▪ get a mortgage
We couldn't get a mortgage.
▪ pay/repay a mortgage
If I lose my job, we won't be able to pay the mortgage.
▪ pay off a mortgage (=finish paying all the money you owe)
They paid off their mortgage five years early.
▪ fall/get behind with the mortgage (=be unable to pay enough money each month)
He fell behind with the mortgage when he lost his job.
■ adjectives
▪ big/high
They both need to work full-time because their mortage is so big.
▪ cheap (=with a low interest rate)
Homebuyers are eager to take advantage of the cheap mortgages on offer.
■ mortgage + NOUN
▪ a mortgage payment
If interest rates go down, your mortgage payments will fall.
▪ the mortgage rate (=the rate of interest you will pay on a mortgage)
You need to shop around for a good mortgage rate.
▪ a mortgage lender (=a bank that provides mortgages)
Nearly all mortgage lenders plan to raise their interest rates.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ loan noun [countable] an amount of money that is borrowed, especially from a bank or company, which you agree to pay back by the end of a period of time:
We took out a loan to buy a new car.
|
He is paying back a $50,000 loan.
▪ mortgage noun [countable] a large amount of money that someone borrows from a bank or company to buy a house:
Nick told me the mortgage on his apartment is worth about $90,000.
|
Anyone taking out a mortgage should be aware that interest rates can go up at any time.
|
It took my parents nearly thirty years to pay off their mortgage.
▪ interest noun [uncountable] money that you pay for borrowing money, especially that you pay every year or every month at a fixed rate:
Credit companies charge huge amounts of interest.
|
What’s the interest on the loan?
▪ overdraft noun [countable] British English the amount of money that you owe to bank when you have spent more money than you had in your account:
I left university with no job and a big overdraft.
|
20% of the bank’s customers regularly use their overdraft facility.
|
You have to pay a fee for unauthorized overdrafts.
▪ debt noun [uncountable and countable] an amount of money that a person or organization owes:
The company now has debts of almost £2 million.
|
A lot of the money went towards paying his debts.
|
The family were $100,000 in debt (=they owed $100,000) .
▪ credit noun [uncountable] an arrangement with a shop or bank that allows you to buy something and pay for it later:
We bought the furniture on credit.
|
He had a credit limit of £7,000.
II. mortgage 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . if you mortgage your home, land, or property, you borrow money, usually from a bank, and if you cannot pay back the money within a particular period of time, the bank has the right to sell your property in order to get the money you owe it:
We mortgaged our house to start Paul’s business.
2 . mortgage the/sb’s future to borrow money or do something that is likely to cause problems in the future, that other people will have to deal with:
The report explains how governments are mortgaging their nations’ futures.