Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
Realty Check Video Gallery
The USDA loan program is suddenly gaining steam, reports CNBC's Diana Olick.
Another government agency is guaranteeing loans, with CNBC's Diana Olick and the Power Lunch crew.
More Videos
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Despite Government Aid, Foreclosure Crisis is Not Improving
- Housing Data Delivers Mixed Messages
- Appraisals Now Center Stage in Housing Recovery
- Underwater Mortgages Could Sink Even Deeper
- First Time Buyers Rescue Housing: Realtors
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
- Shadow Inventory Dwarfs Loan Mods
- The Battered Businesses Behind Housing
- Watch Foreclosures, Seriously
MOST SHARED
- Wall Street Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- Kraft Weighs Higher Cadbury Bid as Rivals Circle
- MBS Buyback Program Should be Extended: Fed's Bullard
- China Wind Power Reportedly Seeking $2.2 Billion in IPO
- Volkswagen to Triple China Sales by 2018
- China Should Stop Property Stimulus Now: Central Bank
- Farrell: Obama Hectored, Ignored and Restricted?
- Don't Dwell on Investment Mistakes; Move on, Like Buffett
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- U.S. Stocks Slip, Dollar Rises
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- US Job Losses to Bottom out Next Quarter: NABE
- Late Payments on Credit Cards Drop in Third Quarter
- Smallest US Businesses Borrowing Again: PayNet
- Little Sign of Inflation on the Horizon: IMF
- Kraft Weighs Higher Cadbury Bid as Rivals Circle
- MBS Program Should be Extended: Fed's Bullard
- Tyson Food Profit Beats Estimates
- JPMorgan's Dimon Could Succeed Geithner: Report
RSS FEED
» Help
powered by digg
Realty Check
Text Size 
May.23
10:41 AM ET
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Hate Writing the Mortgage Check? Charge It!!
 |
AP |
] is breaking new ground, allowing its card members to pay their monthly mortgage bills on the card. I know what you're thinking, but hold on... Amex is requiring that these be prime loans only, so you can forget that whole subprime mortgage implosion issue. And of course, they'll be charging you $395 to enroll in the program."Obviously you have to be approved for the loan and depending on your credit line, it's all governed by the same standards," Christine Elliott of American Express tells me.
The loans, for now, also have to come from American Home Mortgage Corp [AHM Loading... ()
], the first lender to offer this Express Rewards Mortgage program, and oh to think of the rewards!! Christine tells me Indy Mac will be joining the gang this summer, and while she can't discuss others, she assures me there will be more.Now my first concern here is the slippery slope thing. Granted, American Express Card holders are the crème de la credit of the charging brigade. Christine tells me that beyond using the card for cars and boats, it's become extremely popular for the jet set to put payments for fractional ownership of private jets on the Amex. I'm guessing those charges are more than the Southwest fare I just booked to Islip for my summer vaca.
Amex-ers are also using the card for exclusive resorts, where membership fees can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Amex allows card members to use plastic for luxury condo rentals as well.
"Given our card member base we have the lowest credit losses in the industry, and the people transacting in rent are even lower than our card member base," Christine assures me.
But what about the precedent? It's one thing for the gold standard, the inventors of the gold card, to offer this kind of perk to its pecuniary elite, but what happens when Visa and MasterCard [AHM Loading... ()
] jump on the bandwagon, and average folks who live entirely on credit start to see plastic stars in their eyes? Plenty of Americans have gotten into plenty of trouble using plastic to pay for items that should simply have walked on past. And we all saw what happened when the mortgage industry started offering "exotic" products that allowed people to use their homes essentially as credit cards: the economy and housing industry are now paying a hefty price for that.Don't get me wrong; again, I love plastic and I love real estate, and a marriage of the two does sound slightly romantic. The question I'm asking though: Is plastic really the kind of foundation you want for your home?
Questions? Comments?
MORE FROM CNBC
TOPIC : Credit Cards
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes