Ms. Juliet bought a house for $360,000 exactly five years ago. After making a 20% down-payment, she borrowed the rest of the house payment in the form of a 15-year mortgage from her local cooperative credit union. She negotiated a mortgage rate of 3.5% APR with semi-annual compounding. She makes mortgage payments of an equal dollar amount every two weeks (i.e., biweekly), and her first mortgage payment was due two weeks after she signed the mortgage contract.
a. What is the effective annual rate on Ms. Juliet’s mortgage?
b. What is the effective biweekly interest rate on Ms. Juliet’s mortgage?
c. What is Ms. Juliet’s biweekly mortgage payment?
d. If Ms. Juliet can renegotiate a new 10-year mortgage rate of 2.5% APR with monthly compounding on her current mortgage balance, what will be her new biweekly mortgage payment?