By Annamaria Andriotis and Shayndi Raice | The Wall Street Journal
Adjustable-rate mortgages, one of the main culprits of the housing crisis, are back in vogue. But banks say this time is different.
Financial groups are sweetening terms to entice customers to take out these loans, known as ARMs, whose rates can jump after a few years. Some ARMs are cheaper, when compared with fixed-rate mortgages, than they have been in more than a decade.
The tactics are reminiscent of the period before the 2008 crisis, when ARMs exploded in popularity as banks and mortgage brokers touted their low initial rates to consumers.
