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Liabilities
A person's financial obligations. Liabilities include long-term and short-term debt, as well as any other amounts that are owed to others.

Lien
A legal claim against a property that must be paid off when the property is sold. Such claims may include obligations not met or satisfied, judgments, unpaid taxes, materials, or labor.

Lifetime payment cap
For an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), a limit on the amount that payments can increase or decrease over the life of the mortgage.

Lifetime rate cap
For an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), a limit on the amount that the interest rate can change over the life of the loan.

Line of credit
An agreement by a commercial bank or other financial institution to extend credit up to a certain amount for a certain time to a specified borrower.

Liquid asset
A cash asset or an asset that is easily converted into cash.

Loan
A sum of borrowed money (principal) that is generally repaid with interest.

Loan origination
The process by which a mortgage lender brings into existence a mortgage secured by real property.

Loan servicing
The tasks a lender performs to protect a mortgage investment, including collecting monthly payments from borrowers and dealing with delinquencies.

Loan-to-value (LTV) ratio
The relationship between the dollar amount of a borrower's mortgage loan and the appraised value of the property expressed as a percentage.