By GEOFF EARLE
Last updated: 7:47 am
July 3, 2008
Posted: 3:39 am
July 3, 2008
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama got a good deal from an Illinois bank when he took out a mortgage to buy a $1.65 million Chicago mansion in 2005 - but it didn't represent any special treatment, his campaign insisted yesterday.
Obama's interest rate of 5.625 percent on a 30-year mortgage was better than average for large loans in Chicago at the time, which averaged 5.9 or 6 percent interest.
But the bank that made the loan, Northern Trust, says it does not have a "VIP" program offering special rates to public officials or celebrities.
Members of Northern Trust have given $71,000 to Obama's campaign - much of it in the form of small contributions.
