Fixed mortgages have been the keystone of the home loan industry for decades. Over the years, loan-to-value ratios have vacillated and interest rates have moved up and down, but the surety a fixed-rate mortgage bids has never lost its appeal. The word "mortgage" arrives from the French. Mort means dead and gage means pledge. It has been argued that whenever the mortgagor (borrower) did not pay the debt, the property was dead to the owner because the mortgagee (lender) would repossess the land ... more