Money Sense on Fortune
In this week’s column I confront the hard reality that “good debt” isn’t free.
FORTUNE — In the last two days, I have read two newspaper stories that have me worried.
The first, from Washington Post syndicated columnist Kenneth Harney, pointed to a huge rise in the amount of debt being taken out in the form of home equity lines of credit. “New home equity credit line borrowings soared by 42% in the final three months of 2013 and were up sharply for the entire year, to $111 billion,” he wrote. As for the reasons behind the increase, Harney singled out the comeback in home prices in the last couple of years that sent equity soaring, combined with the fact that teaser rates on HELOCs make them more attractive than a cash-out refi (and that’s before you consider a refi’s closing costs).
The second story, in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, focused on the rise in people taking out student loans not because they want to earn a degree, but because they need the money — and student debt is cheaper and easier (i.e. no credit check) than getting a loan from a bank or leaning hard on your credit card. “College officials and federal watchdogs can’t say exactly how much of the U.S.’s swelling $1.1 trillion in student-loan debt has gone to living expenses,” wrote reporter Josh Mitchell. “[A report from the Education Department’s inspector general] also found the schools disbursed an average of $5,285 in loans each to more than 42,000 students who didn’t log any credits at the time.
For more head over to Fortune.com
