[PEN-L:33254] Re: How Much Housing Credit Is Too Much?

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael wrote:

> We should ask Doug H., who is now on the radio.
> Even that number is cloudy since people refinance
> their houses to borrow for other purposes.

This is an important point. How did they refinance? How much
equity did they take out to pay other debts? Were they able to
pay other debt with that equity or did they use the equity they
took out to spend more?

That the monthly mortgage payments went down doesn't mean that
the overall monthly debt payments went down. It is not only the
interest rate but also the principal of the debt that determines
the payments.

To sum up, did the "overspent/overworked American" change his/her
attitute recently?

I have doubts!..

Anyway.

I agree with Michael that there is a lot of cloudiness going on
here.

Best,

Sabri