Amid a national housing crisis, discounts offered to Senator Christopher Dodd and Senator Kent Conrad by Countrywide Mortgage, has resulted in a Senate ethics committee inquiry into the loans.Now, add Senator Barack Obama to the list of United States Senators who received more favorable loan treatment than other similarly situated Borrowers on his $1.32 million mortgage from Northern Trust in Illinois, the Washington Post reported today.
According to the Post story, the average interest rate for such loans at the time was 6%, but the Obama’s were extended a 5.625 % rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage on his so called “super-super jumbo loan” What is more, Obama paid no loan origination fee or discount points.
Is this a problem for Obama’s campaign?
The linked Post article points out that former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson resigned as a senior Obama campaign advisor after his favorable Countrywide mortgage became public.
“"The real question is: Were congressmen getting unique treatment that others weren't getting?" associate law professor Adam J. Levitin, a credit specialist at Georgetown University Law Center, said about the Countrywide loans. "Do they do business like that for people who are not congressmen? If they don't, that's a problem."”
So did Obama get “unique treatment that other’s weren’t getting”?
"It's certainly safe to say that this borrower did better than average," said Keith Gumbinger with HSH Associates (which surveys lenders),who was quoted by the Post.
Read: “Obama Got Discount on Home Loan”, Washington Post, July 2, 2008, p. A03
Read: “Obama will Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud” http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#home-ownership
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