I blame consumers for falling into the trap. I’m not saying the sellers don’t have a lot of responsibility here as well, but consumers need to be smarter. It’s

I blame consumers for falling into the trap. I’m not saying the sellers don’t have a lot of responsibility here as well, but consumers need to be smarter. It’s a pretty obvious play. I go into a dealership, and the first question the salesman asked me is “what do you want your monthly payment to look like.“ And I always respond with something (a little snarky) like “ I don’t care what my monthly payment looks like, I care about getting a good deal.” While a little snarky, I’m also trying to signal to cut the crap and let’s do business. More consumers need to think that way. In the mortgage context, I think it makes a little more sense to focus on the monthly payment. However, when brokers are using 2 or 5 year ARMs to sell the “monthly payment,” that’s pretty unconscionable.