[peeters]

Aren't we only talking about a difference in term length then? i.e. it's more common for the term length to equal the amortization length in the U.S.? In Canada even the amortization/maturity can't be greater than 25 years. And terms are commonly 5 years.

[emodendroket]

We can quibble about terminology but it sounds like a system wildly different from the US one, where most people have 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages.