Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is a standard calculation used by lenders. The APR, which stands for “annual percentage rate”, is a good idea badly executed that is as likely to mislead consumers as help them. Sometimes this rate (APR) of a loan needs to be calculated to compare different alternatives. All lenders are required under the Consumer Credit Protection Act to disclose the effective APR as well as the total finance charge in dollars. This helps the consumer figure out the impact that additional loan fees, such as application fees, have on the total cost of the loan to the consumer. The APR is the interest rate that represents the total charge for credit and takes into account the added costs of the loan, such as lender’s fees, title fees, loan origination fees; fees that are not included in the actual interest rate. One problem with the Annual Percentage Rate is that nearly every lender out there calculates the percentage differently and may or may not include all their fees.
Where the interest rate tells you how much the money you’re borrowing will cost, the APR tells you how much the money and the loan costs. It was intended as a way to enable consumers to be able to shop for a mortgage by comparing the total cost of the loan, rather than just the interest rate. The APR includes the interest rate, points, broker fees, and certain other credit charges that the borrower is required to pay. Because all lenders follow the same rules to ensure the accuracy of the rate, it provides consumers with a good basis for comparing the cost of loans, including mortgage plans.
Years ago, before the APR was required to be disclosed, unscrupulous lenders would promise really low interest rates in order to get consumers in the door. Perhaps the most frequently asked question when signing closing documents revolves around the APR. Disclosure of APR is required by the Truth-in-Lending Law and allows borrowers to compare the actual costs of different mortgage loans. Computing the APR over the full loan term deflates the apparent cost of the loan, making it harder to decide if it truly makes sense to refinance an existing mortgage.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion over exactly how a consumer should use the annual percentage rate. If you know the how much cost of borrowing, there are annual percentage rate mortgage calculators online to help buyers. The annual percentage rate includes only interest and no other costs.
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Interest rate is the rate that quoted, say for example 6%. The APR or Annual Percentage Rate is the true rate that you are paying. Annual percentage rate takes into account any fees and is a true measure of the amount of interest you are paying annually. It's kind of hard to explain without giving you a lesson in the principles of time value of money, with takes into account compound interest which is how a mortgage is calculated. Most people think that interest is simply for example multiplying a 100,000 mortgage by 6%, and that the amount of interest you would pay in one year. In most cases interest is calculated on a daily basis, which means you take that 6% and divide it by 365 and you get your daily interest rate. When you divide it out you roughly get .0001643 which you multiply to the balance on your mortgage. So for the first day on a 100,000 mortgage you are adding about 16.43 worth of interest. The next day you take that same daily interest rate and multiple it to the new balance of 100,016.43 and you get a slightly higher amount, and add the new amount of interest to 100,016.43 and you do this each day until you make a payment. Basically you are paying interest on interest on any loan. Now to the route of your question apr is the actually rate that takes into account the interest on interest and is alway higher that the stated interest rate. I would need a financial calculator to give you what the apr is in this situation, but its probably like 6.16% or something. The apr rate takes all of that into account and is more of a true measure of what you are paying in interest.
Some helpful tips of avoiding paying more interest is to put money down which would lower that 100,000, also to pay extra on your mortgage which lowers the principal amount and basically you are calculating interest on a lower amount which means a lower amount of interest would add up. Another thing that could save you a lot of money on your mortgage in interest is to make your payment more frequently. For example if you pay 1000 a month on your mortgage, pay 500 every two weeks which equals the same amount of money you are paying monthly, but this lowers the amount of interest because you pay interest on interest so the more frequent your payment the lower your principal balance and the lower the daily amount of interest will be. I hope that I went into enough detail not to bore or confuse you.