In a recent Hartford Courant story concerning Representative
Chris Murphy’s mortgage issue, Courant columnist Jon Lender
writes there are details of the loan still shrouded in mystery.
Mr. Murphy, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat
soon to be relinquished by Joe Lieberman,
has claimed he missed “several” payments on his mortgage. The lapses of
memory did not prevent him from receiving favorable credit from a Webster Bank,
although Mr. Murphy, a lawyer, had been sued for non-payment of his mortgage.
One of the more important detail yet unknown is how many
payments Mr. Murphy missed. The term “several” is non-specific.
“Among the details still unknown,” Mr. Lender writes, “publicly
are: the number of monthly payments Murphy missed leading to the 2007
foreclosure action; how much money he was in arrears by; and whether he was
keeping up with payments on a concurrent Webster Bank second mortgage.”
The rate given Mr. Murphy was high for someone who had
missed “several” mortgage payments, and the favorable rate given to Mr. Murphy
required “a top credit score, and total loans and credit lines that did not
exceed 80 percent of the value of the house…
“But whatever marks were on Murphy's credit from the missed
payments and lawsuits, a Webster official said that at the time of the loan,
the bank's underwriting policy when considering joint applications from married
couples was to consider the credit score for the more-creditworthy spouse.
“Without being more specific, Robert Guenther, Webster's
senior vice president for public affairs, said Cathy Murphy had good credit —
and a higher credit score than her husband.”
Mr. Murphy’s campaign appears to be unwilling to furnish the
missing details. Even so, he received from the Courant’s editorial department a
review
at least as favorable as that of the bank in question.
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