According to a report on Bankrate.com, 34% of people asked had no idea what type of mortgage they had on their homes. …What? …Really? How is that possible?

I know there is an alarming amount of people that don’t really care about personal finance and that’s fine, I can understand that – but 34% of people went through the process of “purchasing” a home and just didn’t pay attention to what they were doing or being sold? I can’t imagine that.

What’s more believable is that:

“9 percent have some variety of an adjustable-rate mortgage. Homeowners in the poll who knew they had an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) were asked what they planned to do when the interest rate adjusts, 34 percent said they didn’t know what they’d do.”

It’s one thing to not think about the future or pose a ‘what if’ to yourself – but to just not know and pay anyway is amazing to me.

The article blames the lack of personal knowledge exhibited by this 34% on the over-abundance of product choice leading to consumer confusion. However, all interest in personal finance aside – or lack thereof, I still don’t buy it. We live in (sorry to be cliche) the information age. With all of the books, sites, calculators, and advice available to anyone that can use Google I just don’t see how that many people can not know what they’re paying for every month.

Heck – I’m a renter and even I know what I’ll be doing once the time comes for me to buy a house (it will be through a fixed-rate mortgage – unless the rates are so high it makes sense to get an ARM in hopes they fall again).

I don’t think it was a matter of too much choice or confusion. I think that – like most everything that is a ‘major purchase’ – these people were bullied or talked into whatever they currently have by being told by an “expert” that it was a good deal or the only way to do it. Oh well – I guess it’s more motivation to learn as much as you can about whatever you’re getting yourself into.