Michael wrote: > We should ask Doug H., who is now on the radio. > Even that number is cloudy since people refinance > their houses to borrow for other purposes.
This is an important point. How did they refinance? How much equity did they take out to pay other debts? Were they able to pay other debt with that equity or did they use the equity they took out to spend more? That the monthly mortgage payments went down doesn't mean that the overall monthly debt payments went down. It is not only the interest rate but also the principal of the debt that determines the payments. To sum up, did the "overspent/overworked American" change his/her attitute recently? I have doubts!.. Anyway. I agree with Michael that there is a lot of cloudiness going on here. Best, Sabri
