Call protection Definition
A feature of mortgage loans or mortgage-backed securities designed to reduce the risk of an early call, or early prepayment, of a loan or security. Call protection may be accomplished by including prepayment penalties and lock-in periods in mortgages. Call protection also may be achieved by structuring a mortgage-backed security in such a way that if underlying loans are paid earlier than scheduled, the payments are not immediately passed through to the investor holding the mortgage-backed security. Investors and lenders sometimes desire call protection so that their funds will remain invested for the entire planned length of time, providing a consistent cash flow at predictable rates and reducing the premature need to look for new investments.