Mortgage
A mortgage is the transfer of an interest in property (or in law the equivalent – a charge) to a lender as a security for a debt – usually a loan of money. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is lender’s security for a debt. It is a transfer of an interest in land (or the equivalent), from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower. The term comes from the Old French “dead pledge,” apparently meaning that the pledge ends (dies) either when the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure.[1] In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans secured on real estate rather than other property (such as ships) and in some jurisdictions only land may be mortgaged.
