Interest rates explained

Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. By far the most common form these assets are lent in is money, but other assets may be lent to the borrower, such as shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements. In each case the interest is calculated upon the value of the assets in the same manner as upon money.

The fee is a compensation to the lender for foregoing other useful investments that could have been made with the loaned money. Instead of the lender using the assets directly, they are advanced to the borrower. The borrower then enjoys the benefit of the use of the assets ahead of the effort required to obtain them, while the lender enjoys the benefit of the fee paid by the borrower for the privilege. The amount lent, or the value of the assets lent, is called the principal. This principal value is held by the borrower on credit. Interest is therefore the price of credit, not the price of money as is commonly - and mistakenly - believed. The percentage of the principal which is paid as fee (the interest), over a certain period of time, is called the interest rate.

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