July 2, 2008
Obama Got Discount On Home Loan
Washington Post: Campaign Defends Lower Rate For 2005 Mortgage As Lender Competition For Business
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Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., removes his tie after a photo session with photographer Kwaku Alston, left, at his home in Chicago, Thursday, June 19, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay Barack Obama A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
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Timeline Credit Crunch Feeling the squeeze? Here's a look at actions and statements from key players in Washington.
From Our Partner:
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.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. "The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust," he said in a statement.
Modest adjustments in mortgage rates are common among financial institutions as they compete for business or develop relationships with wealthy families. But amid a national housing crisis, news of discounts offered to Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, and Kent Conrad (D-N.D) by another lender, Countrywide Financial, has brought new scrutiny to the practice and has resulted in a preliminary Senate ethics committee inquiry into the Dodd and Conrad loans.
Within Obama's presidential campaign organization, former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson resigned abruptly as head of the vice presidential search committee after his favorable Countrywide loan became public.
Driving the recent debate is concern that public officials, knowingly or unknowingly, may receive special treatment from lenders and that the discounts could constitute gifts that are prohibited by law.
"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."
Under financial disclosure rules, members of Congress are not obliged to disclose debts owed to financial institutions for personal residences. Names of lenders and rates paid on mortgages sometimes can be determined by scrutinizing property transaction records. In March, in response to media questions, Obama posted on his campaign Web site records related to his house purchase.
Last week, during debate on a bill to help homeowners caught in the foreclosure crisis, some members of the Senate ethics committee proposed an amendment to require that lawmakers disclose their mortgage lenders and loan terms in annual financial forms starting next year.
In Obama's case, he received a lower rate than the average offered at the time in Chicago for similarly structured jumbo loans. He secured his final mortgage commitment on June 8, 2005, and during that week, rates on similar loans for which information is available averaged 5.93 percent, according to HSH Associates, which surveys lenders. Another survey firm, Bankrate.com, placed the average at 6 percent.
"It's certainly safe to say that this borrower did better than average," said Keith Gumbinger, an HSH vice president, noting that consumer rates vary widely. "It's a good deal."
The Obama campaign called the rate "consistent with Northern Trust policies, and it reflected the base rate set for that period discounted to address the competition for the account and other opportunities, such as personal financial services, that the relationship would bring to Northern Trust."
When the Obamas secured the loan, their income had risen dramatically. Obama assumed his Senate seat in January 2005, with an annual salary of $162,100. That same month, Random House agreed to reissue an Obama memoir, for which it originally paid $40,000, as part of a $2.27 million deal that included two future nonfiction books and a children's book.
Around the same time, the University of Chicago Hospitals promoted Michelle Obama to a vice president and more than doubled her pay, to $317,000.
The couple wanted to step up from their $415,000 condo. They chose a house with six bedrooms, four fireplaces, a four-car garage and 5 1/2 baths, including a double steam shower and a marble powder room. It had a wine cellar, a music room, a library, a solarium, beveled glass doors and a granite-floored kitchen.
The Obamas had no prior relationship with Northern Trust when they applied for the loan. They received an oral commitment on Feb. 4, 2005, and locked in the rate of 5.625 percent, the campaign said. On that date, HSH data show, the average rate in Chicago for a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo loan with no points was about 5.94 percent.
Jumbo loans are for amounts up to $650,000, but the Obamas' $1.32 million loan was so large that few comparables are available. Mortgage specialists say that many high-end buyers pay cash.
Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, has no mortgages on properties he owns with his wife, Cindy, who is a multimillionaire.
Unlike Countrywide, where leaked internal e-mails documented a special discount program for friends of chief executive Angelo Mozilo, Northern Trust says it has no formal program to provide discounts to public officials. Loan officers may consider a borrower's occupation when establishing an interest rate, the bank said.
"A person's occupation and salary are two factors; I would expect those are two things we would take into consideration," said Northern Trust Vice President John O'Connell. "That would apply to anyone seeking to get a mortgage at Northern Trust." He added that the rates offered to Obama were "consistent with internal Northern Trust rates at that time."
"The bottom line is, this was a business proposition for us," he said. "Our business model is to service and pursue successful individuals, families and institutions."
O'Connell referred additional questions to the campaign.
Since 1990, Northern Trust employees have donated more than $739,000 to federal campaigns, including $71,000 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama's house purchase has been a source o controversy. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that on the day of the closing, the wife of Obama's longtime friend and fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko closed on an adjoining lot that had been the estate's side yard.
The Obamas bought the house for $300,000 less than the asking price of $1.95 million, while Rezko's wife, Rita, bought the neighboring lot for the full asking price of $625,000. Rita Rezko later sold a portion of the undeveloped lot to the Obamas, enlarging the senator's yard.
Tony Rezko already had been linked to a grand jury investigation involving public corruption. Last month, he was convicted of 16 counts in an influence-peddling scheme that reached the highest levels of Illinois state government.
By Joe Stephens
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 378 CommentsDepends upon the poll you like. Some polls show them neck and neck.
Using the same poll you''re mentioning, at this point 4 years ago, John Kerry had a 15 point lead on George Bush. 8 years ago, Gore had a similar lead. In 1988, Michael Dukakis had a 20 point lead in July. In 1992, the polls suggested Ross Perot had a real chance. (Right.)
All polls are biased. Fortunately, actual voting is what matters.
So Obama went wow! I''''''''''''''''ve gotta get this guy and his money to help me buy a house quick before he goes to jail!
He promised me that house! I did what he asked me to do...I want my house before he''''''''s hauled away for FRAUD!
How`s That for being `Radical`
Note: John Mccain, What A Patriot, What A Hero, what an American Vet !!
Obama & Webb: What Radical Liberals...Ha !!!
Irony: That Lying George Bush Jr. gave Credit to John McCain, knowing Full Well, he had Nothing to do with the Bill or it`s Passing !!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/30/bush-wrongly-credits-mcca_n_110024.html
Senate Republicans have broken with President Bush to help Democrats add support for veterans and the unemployed to a bill paying for another year of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The 75-22 vote also added billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to the $165 billion for the military operations overseas.
...The huge tally in the Senate was driven by $15.6 billion over two years to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and more than $50 billion over the upcoming decade to provide returning Iraq war veterans with sharply increased college aid.
Both Sens. Obama and Clinton voted in (Favor of the Bill.)
Note: Sen. McCain Skipped the vote
MCCAIN WILL WIN.
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Ans: Oh Yeah, John McCain is a Straight and Narrow, Honest John of the Political World...Bull-Spit !!!
John Mccain is a Career Crooked & Elitist Politician and You are Not Worried about His Sleezy A$$ !!!
Note: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.
Their credit card bills peaked between January 2007 and May 2008, during which time Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another, while one of their two dependent children had an AmEx card with a monthly balance as large as $50,000.
Big Note: During the 2004 presidential campaign, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune was estimated to be worth more than $750 million, eventually released comparably limited information about her finances after repeated demands from Republicans who asserted the public%u2019s right to know because they said her finances were intertwined with those of her husband%u2019s presidential campaign.
The Kerry campaign had benefited from a $6.4 million personal loan Sen. Kerry secured using, as collateral, equity in a Boston townhouse the couple jointly owned.
Likewise, John McCain%u2019s presidential campaign benefited from Cindy McCain%u2019s fortune, using a `Legal Loophole` to travel the country in a Jet Owned by her company for Cut-Rate Fares.
Real Elitist: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.
Oh what a STEAL of a DEAL...Puh-Lease !!!
"The bottom line is, this was a business proposition for us," he said. "Our business model is to service and pursue successful individuals, families and institutions.
Great Deal...Obama... Great Deal !!
THAN THE ASKING PRICE of $1.95 million, while Rezko`s wife, Rita, bought the neighboring lot for the full asking price of $625,000. Rita Rezko later sold a portion of the undeveloped lot to the Obamas, enlarging the senator`s yard.
Big Note: During the 2004 presidential campaign, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune was estimated to be worth more than $750 million, eventually released comparably limited information about her finances after repeated demands from Republicans who asserted the public%u2019s right to know because they said her finances were intertwined with those of her husband%u2019s presidential campaign.
The Kerry campaign had benefited from a $6.4 million personal loan Sen. Kerry secured using, as collateral, equity in a Boston townhouse the couple jointly owned.
Likewise, John McCain%u2019s presidential campaign benefited from Cindy McCain%u2019s fortune, using a `Legal Loophole` to travel the country in a Jet Owned by her company for Cut-Rate Fares.
Real Elitist: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.
Big Note: During the 2004 presidential campaign, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune was estimated to be worth more than $750 million, eventually released comparably limited information about her finances after repeated demands from Republicans who asserted the public%u2019s right to know because they said her finances were intertwined with those of her husband%u2019s presidential campaign.
The Kerry campaign had benefited from a $6.4 million personal loan Sen. Kerry secured using, as collateral, equity in a Boston townhouse the couple jointly owned.
Likewise, John McCain%u2019s presidential campaign benefited from Cindy McCain%u2019s fortune, using a `Legal Loophole` to travel the country in a Jet Owned by her company for Cut-Rate Fares.
Real Elitist: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.
-LMAO, I''d say the Obamas got sccrewwed on this one. Jut can''t believe it. We negotiated our loan at fixed 5.25% for 30 years! It was in dec. 2004 though!
Oh what a STEAL of a DEAL...Puh-Lease !!!
"The bottom line is, this was a business proposition for us," he said. "Our business model is to service and pursue successful individuals, families and institutions.
Great Deal...Obama... Great Deal !!
"The Obamas bought the house for $300,000 less than the asking price of $1.95 million, while Rezko''''s wife, Rita, bought the neighboring lot for the full asking price of $625,000. Rita Rezko later sold a portion of the undeveloped lot to the Obamas, enlarging the senator`s yard.
Big Note: During the 2004 presidential campaign, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune was estimated to be worth more than $750 million, eventually released comparably limited information about her finances after repeated demands from Republicans who asserted the public%u2019s right to know because they said her finances were intertwined with those of her husband%u2019s presidential campaign.
The Kerry campaign had benefited from a $6.4 million personal loan Sen. Kerry secured using, as collateral, equity in a Boston townhouse the couple jointly owned.
Likewise, John McCain%u2019s presidential campaign benefited from Cindy McCain%u2019s fortune, using a `Legal Loophole` to travel the country in a Jet Owned by her company for Cut-Rate Fares.
Real Elitist: While Cindy McCain, her dependent children and the trusts and companies they control made as much as $29 million - and likely substantially more - from her family%u2019s business interests from 2004 through last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Senate, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals that they spent $11 million purchasing five condominiums for the family, hired additional household help and racked up progressively larger credit cards bills almost every year.
About $200,000.00 just from Tony Rezko for his campaign, but tells his voters, (lies to the world) that he takes nothing from special interest groups. This guy is a real joke.
Has a family of a special interest group put amounts in $2000''s as different family names, it ends up as over $60k, just a cheating way from a special interest group. CBS should do a report on this, now thats real news. And the list goes on! Obama is a CHEATTER! Run the cheater report.
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