CharterWest offers many loan products to meet your needs. Loan programs change often, but our knowledgeable staff can review the many options with you.

Conventional loans offer the benefits of combining 100 percent financing and/or combination first and second mortgage financing to meet the minimum down payment requirements. Fixed rate, adjustable rate, and balloon programs are available with terms from 10–30 years. With our automated underwriting technology and loans requiring little documentation, we can offer loan approval in minutes, not days! Call us for more details at 888-273-9500.

Fixed Rate Mortgage

The most common type of mortgage program is one where your monthly payments for interest and principal never change. Property taxes and homeowner’s insurance may increase, but generally your monthly payments will be very stable.

Fixed rate mortgages are available for 30 years, 20 years, 15 years, and even 10 years. There are also biweekly mortgages, which shorten the loan by calling for half the monthly payment every two weeks. (Since there are 52 weeks in a year, you make 26 payments, or 13 months’ worth, every year.)

Fixed rate, fully amortizing loans have two distinct features. First, the interest rate remains fixed for the life of the loan. Second, the payments remain level for the life of the loan and are structured to repay the loan at the end of the loan term. The most common fixed rate loans are 15-year and 30-year mortgages.

During the early amortization period, a large percentage of the monthly payment is used for paying the interest. As the loan is paid down, more of the monthly payment is applied to the principal. A typical 30-year fixed rate mortgage takes 22.5 years of level payments to pay half of the original loan amount.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage ( ARM )

These loans generally begin with an interest rate that is 1–2 percent below a comparable fixed rate mortgage and could allow you to buy a more expensive home.

However, the interest rate changes at specified intervals (for example, every year) depending on changing market conditions; if interest rates go up, your monthly mortgage payment will go up too. However, if rates go down, your mortgage payment could drop.

There are also mortgages that combine aspects of fixed and adjustable rate mortgages—starting at a low fixed rate for seven to ten years, for example, then adjusting to market conditions. Ask us about these and other special kinds of mortgages that fit your specific financial situation.

Balloon Mortgage

Balloon loans are short-term mortgages that have some features of a fixed rate mortgage. The loans provide a level payment feature during the term of the loan, which is usually 5 to 7 years amortized on a 30-year term. Balloon loans can have many types of maturities, but most balloons that are first mortgages have a term of 5 to 7 years.

At the end of the loan term, there is still a remaining principal loan balance, and the terms generally require that the loan be paid in full, which can be accomplished by refinancing. Many companies have other options, such as a conversion feature at the end of the term. For example, the loan may convert to a 30-year fixed loan at the 30-year market rate plus 3/8 of a percentage point. Your conversion can be guaranteed based on certain criteria, such as having made your last 24 payments on time. The balloon mortgage program with the conversion option is often called a 7/23 Convertible or 5/25 Convertible.

FDIC Transaction Account Guarantee Program
CharterWest National Bank is participating in the FDIC's Transaction Account Guarantee Program. Under this program, through December 31, 2009, all noninterest-bearing transaction accounts are fully guaranteed by the FDIC for the entire amount in the account. Coverage under the Transaction Account Guarantee Program is in addition to and separate from the coverage available under the FDIC's general deposit insurance rules.