What Is Lock In Period

by Shakti Singh Dulawat on July 26, 2010

A lock in period refers to the period under which a person cannot sell his or her shares. This is generally a state or condition, which comes along with ESOP or employee stock ownership plan. Under this a person who has been granted some stocks of the company cannot sell them immediately. He can either sell them in lots after the lapse of fixed periods of time or all at once depending on the company policy.  The simple reason of these banks for enforcing the lock in periods is for them to have more than enough time and stable money to be invested and get interest return.

Moreover, lock-in period is also defined as the period after investment in fresh units during which the investor cannot redeem the units.   Any client therefore should see to it that whatever investment he put into the back will never be taken or withdrawn.  Moreover, lock-in period refers to a predetermined number of years that the borrower is eventually penalized for if he/she changes the terms of the contract either by cancellation, pre-payment or conversion.  This simply means to say that before entering into a lock-in period the clients would be informed about the particular number of years where the money invested will be frozen for a certain number of years.

Another basic concept of lock-in period is this: it is a time period for which investors must keep their money invested in an account or investment fund. Withdrawals within this period are either impossible or heavily penalized and thus expensive.  In short, clients cannot get their own invested money anytime otherwise if they badly need it or insist, they will be giving extra payment as a form of penalty.  However there is one example of a bank investment that has no lock-in period.  This is the Lowes Wealth Management’s account.  This is one instance when a bank investment does not require a lock-in period.

Furthermore, lock-in period implies: that during this is also the period from which a loan cannot be paid-off earlier than scheduled without incurring penalties. Its objective is to generate a certain minimum return on the sums advanced that covers the lender’s lending and loan administration expenses.  Secondly, a lock-in period means a period for which a lender agrees to hold steady the agreed upon interest rate on the loan irrespective of the market rate.

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As a conclusion, lock-in period which in fact referred to as time period, usually 30 to 60 days, a mortgage lender agrees to hold the mortgage rate and points payable by the borrower to the rate quoted when the application was taken. Also, a lock-in period is called a rate lock. It is not the same as a loan commitment although; some commitments may contain a lock-in provision. This protects the borrower against rate increases if interest rates rise before the loan closing takes place. Lenders may charge a flat fee or a percentage of the mortgage loan, or add a fraction of a percentage point to the loan’s interest rate.  In short, having knowledge about lock-in period can in fact help you manage your bank investment and also maximize all its benefits.

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