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The Role of Prepayment Penalties in Mortgage Loans

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  • Beltratti, Andrea
  • Gavazza, Alessandro
  • Benetton, Matteo

Abstract

We study the effect of mortgage prepayment penalties on borrowers' prepayments and delinquencies by exploiting a 2007 reform in Italy that reduced penalties on outstanding mortgages and banned penalties on newly-issued mortgages. Using a unique dataset of mortgages issued by a large Italian lender, we provide evidence that: 1) before the reform, mortgages issued to riskier borrowers included larger penalties; 2) higher prepayment penalties decreased borrowers' prepayments; and 3) higher prepayment penalties did not affect borrowers' delinquencies. Moreover, we find suggestive evidence that prepayment penalties affected mortgage pricing, as well as prepayments and delinquencies through borrowers' mortgage selection at origination, most notably for riskier borrowers.

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  • Beltratti, Andrea & Gavazza, Alessandro & Benetton, Matteo, 2015. "The Role of Prepayment Penalties in Mortgage Loans," CEPR Discussion Papers 10504, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10504
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    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Emilio Mistrulli & Tommaso Oliviero & Zeno Rotondi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2023. "Job Protection and Mortgage Conditions: Evidence from Italian Administrative Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(6), pages 1211-1237, December.
    2. Lu Fang, 2020. "Mortgage Pricing Implications of Prepayment: Separating Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Prepayment," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 239-269, April.
    3. Matteo Benetton, 2021. "Leverage Regulation and Market Structure: A Structural Model of the U.K. Mortgage Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 2997-3053, December.
    4. Brunetti, M. & Ciciretti, R. & Djordjevic, Lj., 2020. "Till mortgage do us part: Mortgage switching costs and household's bank switching," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    5. Calani, Mauricio & Paillacar, Manuel, 2022. "The pass-through of loan-loss-provisioning on mortgage lending: Evidence from a regulatory change," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    6. Guiso, Luigi & Pozzi, Andrea & Tsoy, Anton & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Mistrulli, Paolo Emilio, 2022. "The cost of steering in financial markets: Evidence from the mortgage market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1209-1226.
    7. Li, Zhiyong & Li, Aimin & Bellotti, Anthony & Yao, Xiao, 2023. "The profitability of online loans: A competing risks analysis on default and prepayment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 968-985.
    8. Thi Mai Luong, 2020. "Selection Effects of Lender and Borrower Choices on Risk Measurement, Management and Prudential Regulation," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 3-2020.
    9. Leonardo Gambacorta & Luigi Guiso & Paolo Mistrulli & Andrea Pozzi & Anton Tsoy, 2017. "The Cost of Distorted Financial Advice - Evidence from the Mortgage Market," EIEF Working Papers Series 1713, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Oct 2017.

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    Keywords

    Mortgages; Prepayment penalties;

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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