BALLOON PAYMENT

An enormous payment owed at the end of a commercial loan, mortgage or other amortized loan. Because the whole loan amount is not amortized within the span of the loan, the balance left will be due as a last repayment to the lender.

Balloon payments are usually pre-packaged as "two-step mortgages." In this kind of mortgage, a balloon payment will be provided into a continuing or new amortized mortgage at existing market rates.

Balloon payments can happen within an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or at a fixed rate.