payment cap

Payment Cap

The maximum periodic payment a borrower may be charged on a contract or agreement. For example, an adjustable-rate mortgage may have a payment cap stating that a payment will not rise over a certain level, even if the formula used to calculate the payment would have it do so. A payment cap reduces the risk of the party making the payments.

payment cap

A limit on the allowable increase of mortgage payments under an adjustable-rate mortgage.The typical horror story used to illustrate this principle envisions interest rates increasing dramatically so that a capped payment is no longer sufficient to pay accrued interest,much less any principal reductions. In such a situation, the accrued but unpaid interest is added to the principal, making the loan grow larger over time rather than smaller. In most of the real world, loans with payment caps also have interest rate caps, so it is contractually impossible for interest rates to climb to an amount causing negative amortization.