Tag Archives: Banks

The Wall Street Journal and other financial news media are reporting that the U.S. home ownership rate has slipped to it’s lowest in 15 years, and experts predict it will slip even further. Why? Mortgage lending is tighter than a violin string, with no signs of loosening, not even for an election. This echoed what every single Realtor I know says: we have record low, like HISTORICALLY  low mortgage-interest rates and falling home prices that have made homes more affordable than at any time in the past decade. But whose lending money? Not the big banks, that’s for sure. Could this have anything to do with the fact that five institutions in this nation control 50% of all the deposits? Talk about an oligopoly. Warren Stephens (a Little Rock, Arkansas wealth manager) argues that we need to dismantle the big banks, and I believe he is correct. A recent re-financing experience put me through the big bank wringer. Mr. Stephens solution, in case you cannot read the actual article, calls for a five-step program I whole heartedly endorse:

Read more on Home Ownership Rates Across the U.S. Lowest Since ’97 While Big Banks Have Cleaned Up…