It may be too early to tell how much this round of refinancing could help the economy, because some of these loans have not yet been paid out on the closing of the property sale and thus do not appear in official statistics.
Members of Congress said they have been denied access to information that would determine how many borrowers could benefit from refinancing programs, how much money individual borrowers could save, and the impact of the legislation on the federal budget deficit.
Mr. Marchionne declined last week to say how much Chrysler would save through its refinancing.
The question is: how leveraged are you when this happens and how much debt do you need to refinance while markets are feeling negative about your prospects?
Bridgewater predicted the euro-zone debt crisis by totting up how much debt would need to be refinanced and when; and by examining all the potential buyers of that debt and their ability to buy it.
On Wednesday the market will be keeping an eye on the European Central Bank's long term refinancing operation, to see how much of the funding on offer is taken up by struggling banks.
Figure out up front how much you're likely to be charged for refinancing.
Earlier this summer, I refinanced my mortgage and was reminded yet again of how much modern finance depends on obfuscation.
The Mortgages column on Jan . 2about "recasting" a mortgage, an alternative to refinancing, misstated the amount by which monthly payments would drop, based on how much of the remaining principal on the loan was paid down.
