There’s condescension, and then there’s this.
CNBC has concluded that the reason you haven’t taken out a second mortgage on your house is because you didn’t know you can.
Nowhere, not once, do they mention that it’s a highly risky, often-variable-rate, generally irresponsible thing to do if you can at all avoid it.
Nowhere is the assumption that the responsible homeowner who has built equity in their home through consistent and timely mortgage payments has no need or desire to heedlessly burn all that equity by taking out a second huge loan.
And since you probably wouldn’t understand the in-their-eyes-post-doctorate-level idea of driving up your household debt levels to the absolute hilt for no reason whatsoever, they’ve deigned to spoon-feed you step-by-step instructions in an adorable little cartoon.[1]
How to use your home as a source of cash[2] from CNBC[3].
The basic tone and assumption of the article is telling. Only 1% of home equity is currently being made available to banks so they can double-dip on your mortgage interest? The response is not “Shrewd move, homeowners. Safe, sane, and smart.” It’s “These poor folks must not know they can! They must not know how!”
The article even goes so far as to call anyone who actually owns a percentage of their house and isn't fully in debt to their bank via primary mortgage as "rich".
Overall, just 1.17 percent of available equity was tapped in the first quarter of this year, the lowest amount in four years. Why? They may not know just how rich they are.
“I think the typical American doesn't have that level of awareness, they're not probably studying the numbers,” added Graboske. executive vice...