Insiders at TARP bank get low-rate mortgages

Insiders at TARP bank get low-rate mortgages

Officers and directors of Great Southern Bancorp, which got $58 million in taxpayer money through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, are benefiting from below-market interest rates on mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit.

The proxy statement for Great Southern’s annual meeting lists six company insiders who have, or had, loans with the bank at interest rates of 2.41 percent or less.

All but one of the loans predate the Springfield, Mo.-based company’s entry into the TARP program in December 2008. But the filing shows that on Dec. 21, 2009, Great Southern gave director Julie Turner Brown a $595,000 mortgage at an interest rate of 1.91 percent…

Read Article Here…

n