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Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by tveyben on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @12:38PM (#25648211)
But one forgets that even though the interest rate is 0% the COST of the loan is !=0, we still have to pay a "bidragsssats" which is an "administrative fee" to have the loan

The interesting part is that that this rate can be changed over time to whatever the lone-shark wants it to be, thus - as always - you need to look at the TCO.

ÅOP as it is in danish: "Årlig Omkostning i Procent" - aka the Yearly cost in percent...

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by SilasX on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @01:20PM (#25648848)
Yeah, that's what I figured. Which I why I was pleasantly surprised to learn (at least according to an HNer in the know) that, in the UK at least, rates must be expressed in a way that accounts for all fees -- so something like this couldn't be called 0%.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11082905

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by ashtonkem on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @02:38AM (#25655460)
Honesty in advertising laws are really a wonderful thing.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by dcolkitt on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @03:19PM (#25650479)
I'm curious why this hasn't been competed away. Short-term rates in Denmark are -0.6%. Couldn't banks just borrow short, write mortgages at 0% and pocket 60 basis points?

It's a little screwy, because you're getting paid the lenders instead of the borrowers. But it's still fundamentally no different than a bank that borrows at 2.5% and writes mortgages at 3% APR.

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by im3w1l on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @03:29PM (#25650595)
It's very different, because it means you don't need the borrower to ever pay back. Meaning the banks will give loans to anyone the laws can be bent to allow lending to.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by eloff on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @12:06AM (#25654817)
That doesn't make logical sense to me. The back would still lose the principal if you defaulted right? Doesn't matter the interest rate.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by im3w1l on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @01:45AM (#25655227)
The customer can't default if there is no interest, so just let the debt remain on the books forever. Well, I suppose you could take a loss if your customer dies, and the estate is insolvent.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by eloff on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @11:38AM (#25659284)
If you're not making the monthly payments then that's still a default. I don't see how the interest changes anything.

I guess you could argue if the bank is not paying interest on that money, then they won't lose anything if the client is in default. I think there's probably still opportunity costs to the bank in that case - they could be loaning that money to a client that pays additional fees and makes the payments on time. But I imagine they would still foreclose and sell the asset to recover the principal in that case. Which might turn a profit for them.

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by wcoenen on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @08:39PM (#25653798)
There are two types of rates that are negative: the central bank deposit rate, and the government bond rate. Neither means that commercial banks can borrow at negative rates.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by beerandt on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @01:20PM (#25648854)
In the US, this is basically why APR =/= APY.

Where APR is the effective rate including fees.

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by foobarian on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @03:23PM (#25650518)
There is definitely a difference between APR and the nominal interest rate of a loan. APY is the same as APR if the compounding happens once a year.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by beerandt on Thursday January 07, 2021 @09:04AM (#25671130)
Not if there are fees or points charged by the bank for the loan. They must be included in calculating apr.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by pkaye on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @02:23PM (#25649782)
I though APY is just APR with interest compounding.
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by xorcist on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @03:35PM (#25650666)
So how much is the effective rate, typically?
Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by KSteffensen on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @10:24AM (#25658503)
The 'bidragssats' on my mortgage is currently at 0.7160%. This is a 15 year mortgage at 1% interest so effect rate is 1.71%.

If I was to refinance to a 30 year mortgage with the same bank/mortgage lender this quarter I would get a 0.5% mortgage with 'bidragssats' at 0.6812% so around 1.18% effective rate. This would also increase my principal by ~30000 DKK or around $5000.

Re:Danes Get 20-Year 0% Mortgages by apta_ on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @06:40PM (#25652859)
So it is still a usurious loan. Nothing to see here.