A bought a new car back in the early eighties, and didn’t have enough local credit so I had to put it on a credit card. The interest rate was 18%. Heh. So I opened up an account at a credit union and paid off the card immediately. Strange days.
Credit union was a smart move. Not sure how they did it back then, but in the 90s you had to be a member at least 6 months before they’d loan to you. I don’t know if it’s changed it since.
18% wasn’t so bad in the 80’s. A preferred rate Freddie mac
mortgage with a 2-point buydown was in the neighborhood of $12.5%. If credit was average, zipcode wasn’t the nicest and employment was other than white collar or union, 15-20% could be expected. Otoh, the average new home price was around $75K
A trip to the past:
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/charts.asp?Y=1980&M=7
http://www.1980sflashback.com/1980/economy.asp