Refinanced

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of restructuring an existing loan through a new agreement while retaining the overall debt obligation
2. A process by which a borrower replaces an old debt with a new one, typically with different terms
3. The financial procedure in which a previous loan is altered by establishing a new loan agreement that may offer better conditions

Etymology: "Refinanced" is the past tense and past participle of "refinance," a verb formed in English by attaching the prefix re- to "finance." The prefix comes from Latin "re-," meaning "again" or "back," and it reached English through Old French, where it was also used this way. "Finance" itself passed into English from Old French, so the new word is simply an old financial term with a second round of borrowing built into it. The result is a transparent compound: to refinance is to finance something once more. Lenders and borrowers use it for exactly that situation, replacing an existing debt with a fresh loan, usually to secure better terms such as a lower interest rate.

Synonyms: restructured, reorganized, renegotiated