The Mortgage Bankers Association’s slow, self-serving defense of the 30-year mortgage proves that lifetime debt, not homeownership, is the product they’re really selling.
Tag: Economic Policy
A so-called “consumer protection” agency became a case study in regulatory excess and misplaced praise.
This guest commentary was written by Ed Harris, CEO of Harris Northwest Advisors and a Visiting Contributor at the Southwest Public Policy Institute. In his argument about APR, Patrick Brenner is wrong but inadvertently correct on a larger point he doesn’t address. An APR calculation is mathematically accurate. Most fixed-rate 30-year mortgages are priced similarly, […]
In his letter responding to my column in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” former Freddie Mac executive David Andrukonis defends the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage as a transparent, borrower-friendly product. In “A Confused Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” he argues that such loans are fully prepayable, giving homeowners flexibility to refinance or pay […]
When you publish in The Wall Street Journal, you have to expect a few readers to come out swinging. Some disagree on principle; others on tone. And then there are those who lecture you like you just flunked Econ 101. Read the full series here. Meet Jay Wright, Adjunct Professor of Finance at Georgetown University. […]
The responses to my article for The Wall Street Journal “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages” keep coming… They’re thoughtful, challenging, and occasionally humbling. What started as a critique of an outdated lending standard has evolved into a larger conversation about financial literacy, honesty in measurement, and the way we misunderstand the true cost of money. […]
When The Wall Street Journal published my op-ed, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” I expected disagreement. What I didn’t expect was the flood of thoughtful, funny, and occasionally fiery responses from readers across the country. Read the full series here. Some wrote to debate, others to commiserate, and a few to wonder aloud whether the […]
After my recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” readers had plenty to say. Some were critical, most were kind, and many brilliantly insightful. Below is a selection of responses, shared anonymously for privacy, that reveal how deeply Americans feel about the strange alchemy of homeownership, debt, and the illusion […]
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Vought Charts New Path for the CFPB
Russell Vought signals a shift toward proportional, efficient regulation after years of CFPB overreach under Rohit Chopra.
A 15% tariff may look like a trade victory, but American families could end up paying the price.