IFA (Independent Financial Advisor)
A qualified professional providing financial services and who is affiliated with any other financial firms such as banks, building societies, etc.

Illustration
An example of monthly cost of a mortgage including costs connected with the mortgage set up prepared by the lender for the borrower.

Impaired Credit
Term used to describe one?s poor credit history that is affected by late mortgage payments, CCJ (County Court Judgements), bankruptcy, etc.

Impaired Credit Mortgage
Also known as Adverse Credit Loan Specialist mortgage loans for those with adverse credit history who are unable to obtain standard financial products from the mainstream lenders.

Improvement grant
A lump sum of money from the local authority that is to be used to improve or repair the property. Information regarding the availability of improvement grants and criteria is available from the local authority.

Income
Amount of money, salary and/or other sources, coming into the household on a regular basis.

Income Multiplier
Calculation method used by lenders to assess the amount of money that could be lent to the prospective buyer. The amount varies between the lenders, but on average total income of single purchaser is multiplied by 3.25, whereas joint income is multiplied by 2.5. Self-employed applicants are usually required to provide evidence of income for a specified period.

Income Protection (Insurance)
Also see Permanent Health Insurance and Accident, Sickness and Unemployment Insurance. Provides mortgage payments cover in the situation where the borrower loses his income as a result of becoming unemployed through redundancy, sickness, etc.

Income Tax
A deduction by the government from the income earned by the individual.

Independent Financial Advice
Advice delivered by the Independent Financial Adviser on the range of financial products (mortgages, pensions, investments, etc) from a variety of lenders.

Independent Mortgage Adviser
A qualified professional specialising in providing information and advice on a range of financial products from a variety of lenders available on the market.

Index
A base rate, sometimes called a published rate of interest, that is used by lenders to set their variable rate loans. Based on the Bank of England base rate or the London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR).

Index Tracker
A type of mortgage with a rate of interest that is tied to current Bank of England base rate at a set level above or below. If Bank of England rate changes, an interest rate on the tracker mortgage will change too.

Individual savings account (ISA) mortgage
A type of mortgage that is linked to ISA. Only interest is repaid on a regular basis, the actual mortgage loan will be paid off using ISA funds at the end of the mortgage.

Individual Saving Account (ISA)
A type of savings account introduced in April 1999. It allows investments in shares, insurance, stocks or cash deposits.

Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA)
One of the way to avoid bankruptcy representing an agreed arrangement with one?s creditors whereby a fixed amount of money is paid towards the reduction of one?s debt over a set period of time.

Inflation
Increase in overall prices over the period of time.

Inheritance Tax
A tax that is paid upon valuation of all the assets (land, property, valuable possessions, investments, etc) owned by the deceased person. It is applicable only when the total amount is worth more than ?312,000 (2008-2009 tax year).

Initial Fees
An estimate cost of remortgaging or purchasing the property that includes among others legal fees, survey fees, reservation charges, etc.

Initial Interest
Term referring to the very first interest on a mortgage calculated from the date of completion to the first payment due date.

Initial Rate
A rate of interest for the duration of a mortgage discount period.

Interest
Premium a borrower has agreed to pay his lender in exchange for using lender?s money.

Interest charges (mortgage)
Fees charged by lenders that represent a percentage of the borrowed amount.

Interest Only Mortgage
A type of mortgage whereby a loan amount stays the same for the whole duration of the mortgage and where the borrower agrees to only pay the interest charged on the loan. Some lender will require the borrower to have and endowment policy, ISA, etc in place to ensure that the actual loan could be repaid towards the end of the mortgage period.

Interest Rate
An agreed percentage of the loan paid to lender each year.

Intermediary
A company that offers services of finding a suitable lender and/or financial product and undertakes some application processing. It is common for intermediary to receive their fees direct from lenders.

Introducer
A person whose service is to introduce potential customers to lenders, insurance companies, brokers.

Inventory
A record of fittings, furnishings and contents of the let property signed by the prospective tenant at the beginning of the tenancy to identify any defects or damage to these by tenants at the end of tenancy agreement.

IPT
Insurance Premium Tax

ISA (Individual Savings Account)
An investment by way of shares, cash or life insurance of a specified value that is free of tax.

ISA Mortgage
A type of mortgage (interest only) whereby ISA is used to repay the loan.

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