It Pays to Read Section

We don’t own stocks, nor do we plan a hostile takeover. But we did buy a house some years ago, when the lowest interest rate (fixed, no points) we could find was 15 3/4%.

For the last year and a half, we have been keeping close tabs on the “going rate,” with the thought of refinancing, and we did that with your table in the Saturday Business Section. When it got down to a low of 12 1/2%, we applied to our loan carrier, and he quoted a rate of 12 5/8% for us.

After about three weeks of paper work and digging up missing information, etc., when the final loan papers were ready for signatures, he said the rate had gone up to 13 5/8%. It was still a nice savings for us, but we were a bit disappointed. Then we read in the recent Saturday Times that the rate actually went down a bit to 11 7/8%, so we called him back and asked for the lower rate (12 1/2%) and quoted the table in The Times.

He recanted and said to send the papers back to him and he’d redraft the loan at 12 1/2%. That saved us another $85 (plus or minus) per month.

Thanks to the Business Section of The Times. You have saved us much more than the cost of our subscription.

FRED and CHARLENE SAKURAI

Montrose