Two ways to improve our standard mortgage system

Editor's note: This is the first column in a two-part series that will conclude next week in HomesSaturday.

The standard mortgage in the U.S. has two major weaknesses. Because of the rigid payment obligation, it is very difficult to manage the repayment process efficiently. And because the loan balance the borrower pledges to repay is not affected by any changes that occur in the economy, the borrower is forced to assume a risk that her equity in the property will decline.

The first problem is discussed below, the second one is considered next week.

One of the things I have learned from many years of answering questions from readers is that often they try to manage their mortgage in one way or another, often without success. The existing instrument was not designed to be managed. An instrument that could be effectively managed would result in more rapid pay-down of loan balances and fewer defaults.

The borrower's payment obligation is rigid: Perhaps the feature that causes the most problems is the absolute rigidity of the payment obligation. The current mortgage does not allow a borrower to skip any part of a payment under any circumstances. A borrower who skips a payment but pays regularly thereafter stays delinquent (and accumulates late fees) until the skipped payment is made good.

Making advance payments to avoid future delinquency is costly: A way to avoid becoming delinquent when funds are scarce is to make advance payments when funds are available, but the standard mortgage discourages that. If the payment is used to reduce the balance, the borrower saves on interest but the future payment obligation is unchanged. The borrower who wants to use the cash for future payments must make these payments in advance, losing the interest saving. There is no way to do both.

Required payments are not affected by extra payments on a fixed-rate mortgage: The borrower who wants to use a cash windfall to reduce his monthly payment can't do it on a fixed-rate mortgage except by inducing the lender to recast the loan contract - at a price. On an adjustable-rate mortgage, the payment will decline automatically at the next rate adjustment date, but that could be years away.

Limited lender feedback discourages extra payments to reduce the balance: Typically the borrower who makes an extra payment has to wait for the next financial statement before seeing any evidence that her balance is lower.

A flexible payment mortgage would base the borrower's contractual obligation on the loan balance. A schedule of required balances, declining month by month over the life of the loan, would be part of the contract. If the borrower made all the scheduled payments, his balances month by month would correspond exactly to the required balances. But if he paid more in some months, his actual balance would fall below the required balance, the difference constituting a "reserve account" which he could draw on by paying less later on.

Some examples: The loan is for $160,000 at 5.5 percent for 15 years, with a monthly payment of $1,307.34. The borrower receives a bonus every Christmas from which he pays an extra $1,000 on his mortgage. With each extra payment, the gap between his actual balance and the required balance widens. If he does this five years running and then loses his job, he can skip his payment entirely in months 72, 73, 74 and 75, and in month 76 he can pay only $575. At that point, the actual balance and required balance are equal, so his "reserve" is exhausted. Or suppose the borrower inherits $10,000, which he decides to use as an extra payment in month 12. If he falls sick in month 37, he can skip eight payments and most of a ninth before his reserve is exhausted.

• Contact Jack Guttentag via his website at mtgprofessor.com.

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