Q. What is the cost for amortisation in the long mortgages on property in the country?
A. The amortisation is spread over the whole duration of the loan, so that the total of the interest paid and the capital reimbursed forms a constant yearly annuity.
Q. Do you employ your amortisation funds to buy new mortgages?
Q. May you call your bonds at par? Are they payable at par at your option?
A. In our recent issue we have put that clause in, viz., that we can redeem our bonds at par. Generally we only redeem a certain portion of them each year, which are drawn by lottery.
Q. What is the minimum size of your mortgages on private estates?
A. There is no minimum; but we do not care to make very small loans because it costs too much to foreclose.
Q. What percentage of your total business is in the country and what in the city?
A. About one-half in Paris, and our best business is in Paris. The urban mortgages cause us less difficulty, and the tendency is for the proportion of them to increase.