Bonuses or Commissions Would Mean Mortgage Rate of 10%, May 15, 1924

Chapel Hill Chaff

the most money that ever traveled in my Ford came over from Durham the other day in the pocket of the gay-striped trousers of Frank Haronian. The 90 $10 bills made a huge roll. Mr. Haronian, having arranged with the building and loan company to get most of the money needed for his new home, had tried to borrow the remainder in Chapel Hill. But all the possible money lenders talked of “bonuses” and “commissions,” which would have meant an interest rate equivalent to about 10 per cent. So he went over to Durham and borrowed the money from a fellow Armenian who conducts a weenie restaurant there. A proper patriotic spirit prevented the restaurant man from requiring a mortgage of his countryman—all the professor had to do was to sign a note.

From the front page of The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 15, 1924, Louis Graves, Editor