A synthetic instrument known as a “Total Fair Value Swap” is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the Total Fair Value Swap may comprise an agreement between two counterparties, a “Fixed Rate Payer” and a “Floating Rate Payer”. According to the agreement, the Fixed Rate Payer makes a stream of payments to the Floating Rate Payer based on a fixed rate, and the Floating Rate Payer makes a second stream of payments to the Fixed Rate Payer based on a floating rate, wherein a first portion of the floating rate is based on a reference interest rate, and wherein a second portion of the floating rate is based on a credit spread associated with the Floating Rate Payer. The reference interest rate may be, for example, London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR), prime interest rate, the US dollar swap rate, the U.S. Treasury Bond rate or any other widely traded interest rate that is reset periodically. The credit spread may be observed from the Credit Default Swap (CDS) market.