I’m old enough to remember a form of boomer home loan where monthly repayments were set at a fixed rate and the only repayment variable was the term of the loan.
In effect, they committed to say $600/mth for 25 years, if interest rates increased the 25 years extended, if they dropped the 25 years was shortened. At some point between 23 and 27 years the loan would be paid off, normally with a small additional payment to ensure the lender wasn’t screwed out of a profit.
The beauty of these loans is that as people’s careers developed they earned more money, but their mortgages stayed the same, meaning they could pay the loan down faster. Or invest, if investment gave a better return, or buy nice stuff. Sure, the lenders might not have made as much but the economy benefited because people weren’t crushed by inflation.
Of course, such loans impact the Federal Reserve’s ability to heat or cool the economy by controlling interest rates so it’s no wonder such loans were phased out when the flower child generation discovered rapacious greed in the 80’s and earnestly started attacking the ladder that Gen X was beginning to climb up.
If I were stupidly J. Paul Getty rich and already had more money than I knew what to do with I’d be setting up a low-profit/non-profit home loan co-operative using this repayment method, aimed squarely at young white families. Come on mega millions, give me the juice and I’ll change the face of home loans forever.