Credit cards add to mortgage mess

Regarding David Lazarus’ excellent column on mortgage prepayment (“Mortgage payoff on steroids,” Consumer Confidential, April 9):

Good article, but the ending scares me.

If the average American proved he or she was unable to grasp the risk of adjustable-rate or interest-only mortgages, how is that person going to comprehend the extreme danger involved with borrowing money on a credit card to pay a mortgage more rapidly?

And that’s on top of paying for the unnecessarily costly software.

Borrowing from the credit card company is a good idea for the software seller, but another tragedy in the making for America. It’s much simpler, and far less risky, to just add spare cash to one’s monthly mortgage check.

I’m disappointed that Mr. Lazarus chose to mention this idea in print. Too many of your readers will see the article and jump to the conclusion that you endorse the idea.

Mark Wolfinger

Evanston, Ill.

Wow, $3,500 for the accelerated mortgage program and then all eggs are in one basket: one’s home. As P.T. Barnum was alleged to have said, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and as my father used to append it, “. . . and they all live long lives.”

I’m with you, Mr. Lazarus: $100 or $200 additional applied to principal on a no-prepayment-penalty loan works fine for whittling down that pesky principal.

I’ve even encouraged friends to steer clear of biweekly mortgages as that extra month’s payment every year can spell trouble if hard times hit. And hard times have hit more of us more often than we care to even think about.

Liz White

Los Angeles