Floating Rate

  

Also known as a “variable rate,” a floating rate is basically an unfixed interest rate. It floats with some index; that is, as that index (say, LIBOR) goes up, then that floating rate goes up with it as "LIBOR plus 50 basis points," or something like that.

When interest rates are high, taking out a loan with a floating rate might be a good thing, because it would allow borrowers to adjust their interest rate costs as interest rates change, presuming they'll go lower in the future. But if interest rates are super-low already, a loan with a fixed rate might be a safer bet, since it could protect borrowers against paying more when interest rates rise.

Let’s say we want to buy a house, and we have two loan choices: one has a fixed rate of 4.35%, and one has a floating rate that is currently sitting at 3.25%. In the short term, the 3.25% loan looks a lot better, because 3.25 is less than 4.35 (mind=blown, right?). Which means we’ll be paying less in interest. But if we look at interest rate trends and see that 3.25% is likely the lowest interest rate we’re ever going to see, and we think rates will rise to 5-6-7% neighborhoods, then we might decide to go for the fixed-rate loan, paying a higher price today but likely less in the future.

The term “floating rate” can also refer to a currency’s exchange rate. Sometimes a country decides to “fix” its currency rate, and sometimes it decides to let it be determined by the markets. Those market-determined currency rates are considered floating rates.

See: Bretton Woods. See: Exchange Rate.

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Finance: What is the difference between ...6 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop what's the difference between a fixed and

00:05

a floating rate All right well we'll just start this

00:09

one out with your favorite time Donald and melania need

00:17

to borrow money to buy a building here's the history

00:20

of ten year t bill costs for the last few

00:23

decades Well rates were almost ten percent in the nineteen

00:26

seventies and then they fell all the way to being

00:29

almost free in two thousand eighteen Well if donald had

00:34

borrowed money nineteen eighty to buy a building with us

00:37

fixed rate he'd have had to pay about ten percent

00:40

interest for all this time That raid in nineteen eighty

00:44

was fixed and you know i'd be paying ten percent

00:47

for thirty five years very expensive rent on that money

00:50

It's not like a dog who can't you know have

00:52

pups different kind of fixed you know it's fixes in

00:55

he won't move Position is just a set number fixed

00:59

in place All right well donald would have overpaid massively

01:02

in his loans by paying ten percent interest when he

01:05

could have been paying seven percent here and four percent

01:09

here And maybe like two percent change here if the

01:12

loan he'd taken out in nineteen eighty was floating well

01:15

it would have floated downward along the way like that

01:18

Well most for floating loans have a preset set of

01:22

terms which move along with the rates of the fed

01:24

charges to loan money to banks who then mark up

01:27

the loans a bit and resell the money to really

01:29

borrowers like donald and kill you and me That is

01:32

the floating rate might be set at quote the average

01:36

federal funds rate plus ah hundred faces points over the

01:40

trailing six month period to be reset every month Unquote

01:45

Yeah something like that So in this case his rate

01:47

would have floated downward And obviously things can go the

01:50

other way as well Joe six pack it's a mortgage

01:53

for a home he can barely afford today Eight hundred

01:56

grand mortgage at four percent Well it cost him thirty

01:59

two grand a year to rent that money just the

02:02

interest and he has to make principal payments as well

02:04

So is total payments or something like forty grand a

02:06

year in year one of thirty Well if rates go

02:09

back up and they easily could and become say seven

02:13

Percent instead of that four percent a few years later

02:16

three four five years later Well then all of a

02:18

sudden his cost of renting that money goes from thirty

02:21

two grand a year in interest costs too something like

02:24

fifty or sixty grand a year in interest costs And

02:27

joe six pack because he didn't fix his raid at

02:30

that four percent figure when he borrowed it let things

02:33

float and well he ended up you know living in

02:37

his car when he couldn't afford paying The mortgage owns

02:40

home anymore and had to sell it And so yeah

02:42

he's living in his suv down by the river But 00:02:45.5 --> [endTime] luckily for him that suv floats

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