Fact Check On The Washington Post’s Fake Mortgage Story

Published July 2, 2008 in Barack Obama, Media, Media For McCain and The Washington Post.

Hey, MSM, if you’re going to try and swing this race for John McCain, try not to be so blatant with it.

1 Scratch
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 am

Maybe you should dispatch a whaaaambulance to buy up all the remaining copies of the WaPo so this uninteresting non-story doesn’t get spread around.
2 Marty
Jul 4th, 2008 at 9:35 am

Clearly the “factcheck” is designed for people who have no clue about the mortgage industry. “Internal rates” refers to special portfolio loans that lenders have set aside for their special customers (i.e. rich, famous, and well connected.) It’s not the same rates that any Northern Trust customer would get that is sold on the everyday secondary market (although there are companies that will buy these special loans too.)

While it is not exactly uncommom, the twist and turns taken to pretend that the Obamas didn’t get a “sweetheart deal” is somewhat comical. I certainly don’t bemoan the fact that they used their considerable advantages to get the best rate on a loan they could, but a loan that saved them probably a full percentage point in rate and anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 in fees (as I explained in teh last post on this topic) is a pretty nice perk of being Barack Obama. Not to worry- the bank is still making plenty of money on the young couple from Chicago.

Oliver Willis