Why APRC is misleading and how it should be reformed

Artikel

The annual percentage rate of charge (APRC) designed to reflect all costs of borrowing is a widely used measure to compare different credit products. It disregards completely, however, risks of possible future changes in interest and exchange rates. As an unintended consequence of the general advice to minimize APRC, many borrowers take adjustable-rate mortgages with extremely short interest rate period or foreign currency denominated loans and run into an excessive risk without really being aware of it. To avoid this, we propose a new, risk-adjusted APRC incorporating also the potential costs of risk hedging. This new measure eliminates most of the virtual advantages of riskier structures and reduces the danger of excessive risk-taking. As an illustration, we analyze the latest Hungarian home loan trends with the help of scenario analysis.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Cogent Economics & Finance ; ISSN: 2332-2039 ; Volume: 7 ; Year: 2019 ; Issue: 1 ; Pages: 1-18 ; Abingdon: Taylor & Francis

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Financial Markets: Government Policy and Regulation ; Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages ; Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation ; Behavioral Finance: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets‡
• Subject: annual percentage rate of charge ; adjustable-rate mortgages ; foreign currency denominated loans ; excessive risk-taking ; regulation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Berlinger, Edina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Taylor & Francis
• (where): Abingdon
• (when): 2019

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1080/23322039.2019.1609766
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/245237
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET