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As far as I am concerned, when a company offers financing or when a bank gives people a loan to buy a car or a house the relevant terms differ in English!

For instance, we can ask someone:

  • How much is each installment of your car?
  • Tomorrow, I have to pay the first installment of my car!

But how about a house loan?

Can we say:

  • How much is each installment of your house?
  • Tomorrow, I have to pay the first installment of my house!

Or we have to use "mortgage" here? If so, then how? I.e. I have to say:

  • How much is each mortgage of your house?
  • Tomorrow, I have to pay the first mortgage of my house!

Please do me a favor and explain that to me.

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The loan you take from a bank (or from other institutions) to buy a house is called a "mortgage". Mortgage is the total amount of money that you take from the bank.

"Installment" is what you pay every month (or at a regular interval) towards the total amount of money you have taken as a loan (= the mortgage).

An installment is one of several parts into which [an] ... amount of money owed has been divided, so that each part ... is paid at different times until the ... total is reached. (Cambridge)

You would say

They took out a $400,000 mortgage to buy the castle.
... a monthly mortgage payment ...
Tomorrow, I have to pay the first mortgage payment on my house!
We paid for the car in monthly installments over two years.

Global News asked all the big banks whether interest on deferred mortgage installments will accrue until borrowers make those payments. (Global News)

But these days, many retirees are getting new mortgages after they relocate in retirement or they’re aging in place and still sending monthly mortgage installments to their lenders. (Forbes)

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  • Thank you @AIQ, then please correct me if I'm wrong! We must say: "How much is each installment on your car", while we have to say: "how much is each mortgage payment on your house." Right? Also, we must say: "I have to pay the first installment on the car tomorrow." whilst we must say: "I have to make the first mortgage payment of the house tomorrow." Do you confirm my take on your answer?
    – A-friend
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 9:56
  • @A-friend No, you can use "installment" to talk about partial payments of any debt you owe (phone, car, mortgage, etc.) You can look up "mortgage installments" in Google Ngram to see the usage.
    – AIQ
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 10:01
  • But you said "Tomorrow, I have to pay the first mortgage payment on my house!" and not "Tomorrow, I have to pay the first installment on my house!*" That's a bit ambiguous @AIQ.
    – A-friend
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 10:05
  • @A-friend That is because in most cases, we say "mortgage payments", but to say "mortgage installments" is not incorrect. There are many examples online. I have added more examples.
    – AIQ
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 10:16
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No, a mortgage is not an instalment. A mortgage is the entire loan on your house. Mortgages have instalments, just like car loans do.

(And you'd usually say you're paying the instalment on the car, not of.)

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