President Trump’s recent announcement that he was considering the roll-out of a 50-year mortgage had a number of financial analysts talking. Mark Driscoll took on the merits of such a long-term mortgage on his podcast in an episode entitled “Trump 50-Year Mortgage is a GREAT Idea.” Driscoll discussed the proposal with Trump 50-Year Mortgage is a GREAT Idea,” Landon Chase, a real estate agent who is also the CEO of Driscoll’s Real Faith Ministries. Chase cautioned that homeowners had “to be wise” when taking on such a long-term loan. “You can pay it off very quickly. You can refinance it down the road. I think when interest rates are high, something like this makes a lot of sense to me,” he said. Chase emphasized the importance of good stewardship, acknowledging that “as young Christian men and women, we need to be good stewards and smart in these decisions we’re making.” A 50-year mortgage would bring lower monthly payments, something that could incentivize people with lower incomes to take the dive into homeownership.

Driscoll was less glowing in his reveal, emphasizing the importance of leaving an inheritance to one’s children, as expressed in the book of Proverbs. US life expectancy is 78.4 years, meaning that many homeowners could end up dying before the loan is paid off. “Give everything you can after you’ve trained your child to be a good steward. My thing with all of our kids was like, get married, buy a house, have kids. If you can do it in that order, statistically, you’re gonna win,” he said.

The idea didn’t fly so well with some of the President’s usual supporters. “I don’t like 50 year mortgages as the solution to the housing affordability crisis. It will ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders. and home builders while people pay far more in interest over time and die before they ever pay off their home. In debt forever, in debt for life!” wrote Marjorie Taylor Greene on X. She encouraged removing capital gains taxes on primary homes.

Financial guru Dave Ramsey, who emphasizes a debt-free lifestyle, shared his own thoughts on the proposal. “Like its cousins the 15- and 30-year mortgages, the 50-year mortgage is a fixed-rate mortgage, meaning the interest rate stays the same for the (long) life of the loan. You’ll pay both principal and interest every month, and . . . if you’re still alive at the end of your 50-year loan period, you’ll officially be a homeowner,” Ramsey Solutions wrote. The site gave the example of a $200,000 mortgage at 7% over 50 years and noted that by the end of the loan, the homeowner will have paid $500,000 in interest alone, more than double the original loan. “That’s not just another house—that’s another lifetime of payments,” the site said.