mortgage

Everyday

1. (money) A mortgage is a big loan from a bank to buy a house or flat; you pay it back with interest, a bit every month, over many years. tree →
2. (money) To mortgage a house is to use it as a promise for a loan: if you cannot pay, the bank can take the house. tree →

In the lessons

In adult life many families pay a mortgage; it is often the biggest monthly bill. Children may hear parents worry when interest rates go up. When the loan is all paid, the family owns the house outright. In maths problems a mortgage shows monthly payments and interest: paying back more than you borrowed. Phrases: take out a mortgage, pay the mortgage, mortgage payments, pay off the mortgage, mortgaged to the hilt.

Examples

• Mum and Dad took out a mortgage to buy our house. tree →
• Most of Dad's pay goes on the mortgage. tree →
• When the mortgage is paid off, the house will be all ours. tree →
• The bank checks your payslips before giving you a mortgage. tree →
• If a family can't pay the mortgage, they might lose the house. tree →
• A mortgage of 200 thousand pounds paid at 1,000 a month takes a long time. tree →
• Renting is different from having a mortgage. tree →
• Now my horses and lands are all mortgaged, it is indeed high time; but gold will come at last--at Easter.' tree →

Note

The t is silent: say "MOR-gij". Countable. In maths: the total paid back is more than the loan because of interest. The person who borrows is the borrower; the bank is the lender. Not the same as rent (paying an owner to live in their home).

In Jewish tradition

It means to give a field or house as a pledge for a loan. Here poor people had to pledge their land to get grain in a famine.

Interpretation. Nehemiah is read as scolding the rich for pressing their poor brothers. The law says to lend without interest and to help the poor.

Examples

• Some also there were that said: 'We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses; let us get corn, because of the dearth.' (Writings NEH.5.3, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

The t is silent: say "MOR-gij". Countable. In maths: the total paid back is more than the loan because of interest. The person who borrows is the borrower; the bank is the lender. Not the same as rent (paying an owner to live in their home).