A look back at Oct 2008 and the Bank’s kool-aid..

October 2008 will be remembered for a few reasons….. First, it was Obama’s rise to the presidency… the first black American president…. next, it was also the end of Lehman Brothers investment bank and the beginning of one of the biggest global recessions in modern history…

That’s how most of us will remember October 2008….. but  there was also another very memorable event that took place.  You see, it was around this time that I heard some borrowers were getting calls from their Bank to lock-in their Variable rate mortgages…. or to take a long term fixed rate mortgage to ‘protect themselves from the uncertainly’ that surrounded the markets at the time…. I warned mortgage borrowers to expect a call  from their Bank offering a ‘safer mortgage option’ or some ‘special offer’ to lock into a fixed rate or a long-term rate…and NOT to take such offers or deals….

Can you imagine a Bank advising or recommending that you lock in your Variable rate or to take a long-term Fixed rate at that time?    At the time, Variable rates were are at around 3.35% and 5 year fixed rates were at around 5.75%.   Uh, no thank you… I’ll pass on the bank kool-aid.

The funny thing about uncertainty is that it usually brings us lower interest rates…..not always, but during this time we knew the World Banks would work together to lessen the economic impact of the Lehman Brothers collapse.   Unfortunately, there were far too many borrowers that listened to their banker and locked into the much higher Fixed rates…

The moral of the story is that Bankers and their ‘Mortgage Specialists’ work for one company, one Bank… they can only offer you one set of products and MUST do what’s in the BEST interests of their BANK…. They have to drink the Bank koolaid….   Mortgage Brokers can offer the products from dozens of lenders and can also compare the benefits and differences between Banks… Remember to ask questions and opinions from neutral, unbiased professionals.

Don’t drink the kool-aid…