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Mortgage Refinancing Follies

I’m doing a mortgage refinance and have been silently mocking my mortgage broker’s laments about all the documentation the government is now requiring on mortgages.

Of course, if the  banks had actually been CHECKING homebuyers’ documentation over the past decade, we wouldn’t be in the terrible mess we are today.

Still, she did clarify her statement. Wherease before they checked NOTHING, now they’re checking EVERYTHING. That, in turn, is raising the costs of doing a refinance for the banks, who (surprise, surprise) are turning over the costs to borrowers in the form of higher rates than they might normally get. 

The next few years are going to bring a real balancing act between getting solid borrowers the funds they need, with the banks’ need to make money (at least make money that they don’t give back in future years because of awful investments).