Nominal interest rate

In finance and economics, the nominal interest rate or nominal rate of interest is either of two distinct things: In finance and economics, the nominal interest rate or nominal rate of interest is either of two distinct things: The concept of real interest rate is useful to account for the impact of inflation. In the case of a loan, it is this real interest that the lender effectively receives. For example, if the lender is receiving 8 percent from a loan and the inflation rate is also 8 percent, then the (effective) real rate of interest is zero: despite the increased nominal amount of currency received, the lender would have no monetary value benefit from such a loan because each unit of currency would get devaluated due to inflation by the same factor as the nominal amount gets increased. The relationship between the real interest value r {displaystyle r} , the nominal interest rate value R {displaystyle R} ,and the inflation rate value i {displaystyle i} is given by In this analysis, the nominal rate is the stated rate, and the real interest rate is the interest after the expected losses due to inflation. Since the future inflation rate can only be estimated, the ex ante and ex post (before and after the fact) real interest rates may be different; the premium paid to actual inflation (higher or lower). The nominal interest rate (also known as an Annualised Percentage Rate or APR)*{ASIDE: This doesn't look right: the APR is an annualized rate that lumps in all charges (fees, initial costs, and so on) and is always a rate used for comparison between lenders, rather than the nominal interest rate, which is quoted by lenders and is the actual rate used in the calculation of, say, monthly payments} is the periodic interest rate multiplied by the number of periods per year. For example, a nominal annual interest rate of 12% based on monthly compounding means a 1% interest rate per month (compounded). A nominal interest rate for compounding periods less than a year is always lower than the equivalent rate with annual compounding (this immediately follows from elementary algebraic manipulations of the formula for compound interest). Note that a nominal rate without the compounding frequency is not fully defined: for any interest rate, the effective interest rate cannot be specified without knowing the compounding frequency and the rate. Although some conventions are used where the compounding frequency is understood, consumers in particular may fail to understand the importance of knowing the effective rate. Nominal interest rates are not comparable unless their compounding periods are the same; effective interest rates correct for this by 'converting' nominal rates into annual compound interest. In many cases, depending on local regulations, interest rates as quoted by lenders and in advertisements are based on nominal, not effective interest rates, and hence may understate the interest rate compared to the equivalent effective annual rate.