"One nation, under debt"
- wadE
Interesting article in the Strib
on Monday.
The gist of it is "But some analysts worry that American homeowners, in rushing to capitalize on
low interest rates, have mortgaged their future by rolling too much credit-card and other debt into
their home loan payments."
You've seen and heard the ads, right? Refinance NOW!!! Don't pay those high credit card rates,
use the equity in your house to pay it off!!!
At face value, it's a good idea...the problem is when you don't have a fixed rate, or when people
start using their home equity lines of credit like it was a credit card. When that gets out of hand
you don't just get a black mark on your credit report, you can lose you home.
Anyway, the part that made me bring this all up is the mention of Tom Smith, CEO of Optimum
Mortgage Services Incorporated. I hear him all the time on KFAN... the hosts of the show usually
call him up and they do one of those live on the phone commercials (I can hear PA in my head saying
"Check 'em out at OMSI dot biiiiiizzzzz").
On monday's drive home I heard yet another commercial for OMSI this time with Mr. Fun calling
Tom Smith up... but oddly enough... Tom was real cautious about everyone running in to his office
to jump on the re-fi bandwagon. Mentioning how people had to be careful...and that he'll work with them
to figure out what the right thing is to do...quite different from the usual "you gotta jump on these
rates before they're gone!!!"
So the moral of the story, as always, is that there is no such thing as a free lunch...
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
