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Financemortgages

A mortgage market so tough even Ben Bernanke can’t refinance

By
Ben Geier
Ben Geier
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By
Ben Geier
Ben Geier
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 3, 2014, 1:20 PM ET
Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke Speaks At The Brookings Institution
Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, listens to a question during a discussion at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. Bernanke defended quantitative easing, saying it has helped the economy while posing little risk of inflation. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Andrew Harrer — Bloomberg/Getty Images

Refinancing your home is, apparently, very hard. So hard, in fact, that even former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke can’t do it.

According to a Bloomberg report, at a conference in Chicago Bernanke told Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics Inc. that he’d “recently tried to refinance my mortgage and I was unsuccessful in doing so.”

Cue laughter from the audience, followed by the man once responsible for U.S. monetary policy defending his own mortgage troubles.

“I’m not making that up,” he reportedly said.

He also commented on the broader lending landscape, saying that lenders “may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions.”

The interview took place at The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care.

The mortgage credit market might still be tight, but there may be something else going on here, as the New York Times’ Neil Irwin explains.

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