People get executed in other countries for less. I would also like to know, if you don’t want or need a loan, why have a mortgage on a house? I thought that mortgaging your house was a way to set your house up to be used as collatoral; if you don’t need a loan, why have a mortgage as well as a house payment? I always wondered about that.
Because for decades the mortgage/banking industry has convinced people that taking money and investing it instead of paying off a house has been a better return. They have sold Americans on the idea that being in debt (mortgage) means you have more money for other things.
Sound familiar?
The lender hopes just the opposite. He wants the loan's interest rate to be more than the rate of inflation so he'll be paid in ever more valuable dollars.
Plus I don't have my money tied up in a house that I may sell later so I have the house and the money to use.
The lender doesn't have the house to live in or the money...yet but he does have a valuable asset in the loan that will pay a steady stream of income over a long period of time and if I try to pay it off early or renegotiate the loan he may charge me for the privilege.
And he may sell the loan.
Debt isn't just owing money to someone, today it's a financial tool to plot and manipulate with.