> > anyone fancy a credit card that puts your transactions straight
> > on the mortgage, cobbers?
>
>[...]
>
>If you have a mortgage and you have ANY OTHER DEBT then you aren't worki
>ng hard enough; the consolidation of all your debt in your house is a
>really good idea in most cases: it's the only debt that individuals can
>incur that the economy/government gives any amount of respect to.
But more importantly, mortgage interest rates are significantly lower than the other kinds. Why pay 15% interest for consumer credit when you can get the same loan for 7%, without additional paperwork and transaction costs?
It makes perfect sense. Except that many people are inclined to use it more and borrow up to the limit of their capacity to service their borrowings. Rather than keep what they have saved. Which tends to push up demand and thus prices. When this happens on a large scale, as it has been in places like Australia and the US, the overall tendency is that the inflated prices for residential property in particular (resulting from greater capacity to pay) cancel out the savings in interest rates.
Its a lose/lose situation for people. If you look at the big picture.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas