Just a few weeks ago, it was discovered that Sens. Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad received sweetheart mortgage deals from Countrywide.
Today, the Washington Post is reporting that Sen. Barack Obama also received a sweetheart deal, this time from Northern Trust, for his Chicago home.
The Post reports:
Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.
The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a “super super jumbo.” Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.
Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama’s rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is poised to vote on a $300 billion mortgage bailout following its July 4 recess. This equates to $1,000 for every U.S. man, woman and child, in taxpayer giveaways for subprime lenders who made bad decisions.
AFF vehemently opposes any form of taxpayer bailout for the mortgage industry, especially with the recent revelation that U.S. senators - who ultimately decide the bill’s fate - may have received special deals from the lenders they seek to bail out.
