Joe and Jill Biden have tapped two Delaware properties for $4.2 million in cash since 1975. According to a report, the Bidens refinanced the mortgages on the two homes at least 35 times over the past four decades, negotiating a new mortgage or line of credit about every 17 months. The number of refinancing deals sheds further light on the Biden family’s business practices and cash flows—and raises questions regarding whether the powerful Delaware Democrats benefited from banks bending their lending rules.
Typically, mortgage lenders have a “seasoning” requirement, which limits a borrower’s ability to refinance their mortgage every six months. The Biden family, however, appears to have been able to waive this waiting period on at least a handful of occasions over the years. Additionally, lenders typically only allow borrowers to renegotiate only 80 to 90 percent of their home value as part of a cash-out-refinance. This should mean the amount of money the Bidens could pull from their properties after each subsequent refinancing was drastically limited unless they accessed other income to reduce the loan‘s principle.
Joe Biden sold the first of his two properties—a home in Wilmington, Delaware—in 1996. That home had at least 15 mortgages and lines of credit attached to it. Consequently, Biden purchased his second Delaware home in the same year and has refinanced the property at least 20 times. The second property still has an outstanding $541,000 mortgage.
In addition to the concerns regarding the ethics of the loan refinancing deals Biden secured, the mortgage arrangements also raise questions as to why the Biden family—with its estimated $10 million net worth—would need such frequent access to additional funds. Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, remain under Congressional investigation over their family’s foreign business dealings.
