Bill Handel, a talk show host on KFI-AM in Los Angeles, has the most listened-to morning show in the US. He is irreverent, very knowledgeable on a myriad of subjects, refuses to toe the politically-correct line and is generally very funny. The format of his show will remind you of the Don Imus or the Howard Stern shows – banter with members of the “morning crew”, and jokes that usually don’t pass the threshold of good taste. Lately, he has told his audience on a few occasions that he’d been among the first to decry adjustable rate loans and that he predicted years ago the oncoming mortgage meltdown.
It would be nice if that were really the case. If he could show that he – Bill Handel – is not just a funny guy but is also a financial sage, it would certainly add some gravitas to the show’s image and to himself. Unfortunately, it is not true. There is a reason why the members of his crew are eerily silent whenever he makes that claim.
One of the casualties of the mortgage meltdown has been HMS Capital, a mortgage company based in Westlake Village, California, and previously a large advertiser on the Bill Handel Show. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, when conscientious mortgage companies were steering their customers toward fixed rate mortgages, Bill Handel was telling his listeners to apply for an Option ARM loan with his sponsor, HMS Capital. “This is an amazing loan”, he would say in his commercials, “I even sent my mother to HMS Capital to refinance her mortgage with them.” How many of his listeners have lost their homes when those interest rates re-set is an open question, and we hope that Handel’s mother still has her home (lately, Handel was using the same sales pitch to promote the fixed rate loans of his current sponsor, again mentioning his mother in the commercial). Be it as it may, no one can blame Handel for the misfortunes of listeners who use his advertisers.
Certainly not a financial sage, Bill Handel was pushing toxic loans on his show until the inevitable meltdown. Handel’s position as the No. 1 talk show host in the US is secure, which is why he should not try to embellish his CV with curious claims of financial sagacity.
