A slang term used by mortgage-backed securities (MBS) traders and investors to refer to an MBS that is seasoned over some time period. MBSs typically have maturities around 30 years, and a particular issue's 'vintage' will expose the holder to less prepayment and default risk, although this decreased risk also limits price appreciation. |||The underlying loans of certain vintage MBSs have unique characteristics, such as burnout, that make the vintage trade at a premium price. These unique characteristics are a result of how underlying assets in MBS are pooled. Most MBSs pool the underlying assets across certain geographical regions with similar terms to maturity and interest rates. This makes forecasting payment plans more predictable.
A type of debt instrument used in a particular type of short-term loan agreement in which the seller of goods or merchandise sells them to the buyer, but also provides financing for the buyer in the form of a vendor note. The loan is secured by the inventory being sold to the buyer as well as pledges of the buyer's business assets and similar forms of security used to help lessen the perceived risk of the buyer's default. Also known as a seller note. |||Vendor notes can be a useful and convenient form of financing, particularly when well-established sellers with diverse customer bases are taking on new, smaller buyers who typically have small amounts of working capital with which to purchase inventory. The use of vendor financing can make it easier for a company to increase its sales volume, but in doing so it also incurs the risk of the buyers it finances not paying back their loans.Vendor notes vary in terms of their time to maturity, but notes with time horizons in the range of three to five years are considered common. Many different types of terms and conditions can be built into a vendor note, such as limitations on the types of business practices the buyer can engage in, restrictions on acquiring other inventory or business assets and requirements that specific financial ratios or benchmarks be maintained.
A debt instrument that represents borrowed funds that are payable on demand and accrue interest based on a prevailing money market rate, such as the prime rate. The interest rate applicable to the borrowed funds is specified from the outset of the debt, and is typically equal to the specified money market rate plus an extra margin. |||Because money market interest rates, such as the bank prime rate, are variable over time, the interest rate applicable to this type of demand note is variable as well. Every time the prevailing money market rate changes, a variable rate demand note's interest rate is adjusted accordingly.As the name implies, these debt instruments are payable on demand. This means that the lender of the funds can request repayment of the entire debt amount at its discretion, and the funds must be repaid once the demand has been made.
The weighted average of the time until all maturities on mortgages in a mortgage-backed security (MBS). The higher the weighted average to maturity, the longer the mortgages in the security have until maturity. Also known as "average effective maturity". |||The measure is calculated by totaling each mortgage value represented by the MBS. The weights of each mortgage is found by dividing the value of each into the total of all. To arrive at the WAM number the weight of each security is multiplied by the time until maturity of each mortgage, and then all the values are added together. For example say an MBS has three mortgages valued at $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000 (a total of $6,000) and mature in one, two and three years respectively. The weights of these are 1/6 (1,000/6,000), 1/3 (2,000/6,000) and 1/2 (3,000/6,000). The WAM is 2 1/3 years (1/6 x 1 year + 1/3 x 2 years + 1/2 x 3 years).
A dollar-weighted average measuring the age of the individual loans in a mortgage pass-through or pooled security, such as Ginnie Mae or a Freddie Mac security. The WALA is measured as the time in months since the origination of the loans, with the weighting based on each loan's size in proportion to the aggregate total of the pool. |||The weighted average age will change over time as some mortgages get paid off faster than others. based on the issuer of the mortgage-backed securities (MBS), the WALA may be weighted on the remaining principal balance dollar figure, or the beginning notional value of the loan. The flip side of the WALA is the weighted average maturity (WAM), which is a dollar-weighted measure of the months remaining until the principal amounts are completely repaid on each loan in the pool.
The average number of years for which each dollar of unpaid principal on a loan or mortgage remains outstanding. once calculated, WAL tells how many years it will take to pay half of the outstanding principal. |||The time weightings are based on the principal paydowns - the higher the dollar amount, the more weight that corresponding time period will have. For example, if the majority of the repayment amount is in 10 years the WAL will be closer to 10 years. Let's say there's an outstanding bond with five years of $1,000 annual payments. The weighted average life would be three years, assuming payment is made at the end of each year. This indicates that after three years over half of the payments will be made.
The weighted average of all the bond credit ratings in a bond fund. The measure gives investors an idea of how risky a fund's bonds are overall. The lower the weighted average credit, rating the riskier the bond fund. The weighted average credit rating is expressed as a regular letter rating (AAA,BBB, CCC). |||To arrive at the weighted average credit rating, the calculation starts with dividing the value of each bond in the fund by the total value of the fund. This gives the individual bond weights. The weight of a bond in the fund determines how much that bond influences the weighted average credit rating. For example if a bond fund has 95% AAA government bonds and 5% junk bonds, the bond fund would still have a weighted average credit rating of AAA.
The weighted-average gross interest rates of the pool of mortgages that underlie a mortgage-backed security (MBS) at the time the securities were issued. A mortgage-backed security's current WAC can differ from its original WAC as the underlying mortgages pay down at different speeds. In the weighted-average calculation, the principal balance of each underlying mortgage is used as the weighting factor. |||For example, suppose a MBS is composed of two different pools of mortgages: $6 million worth of mortgages that yield 7.5% and a pool of $4 million mortgages that yield 5%. The WAC would be 6.5%.The WAC on a mortgage-backed security is an important piece of information used by analysts to estimate the pre-pay characteristics of that security. It is an important relative value tool in MBS portfolio management and analysis.