Under the plan, couples would register for a mortgage down payment in much the same way they sign up for a set of salad forks at Macy’s. Well-wishers’ contributions will go into an interest-bearing bank account. To discourage couples from using the stash to buy a minivan, or, heaven forbid, from going to another lender, Arbor is sweetening the offer with its own gift-$100 toward closing costs.
Sounds like a mortgage made in heaven, right? But Miss Manners is not impressed." I am appalled," says the doyenne of decency, a.k.a. Judith Martin, etiquette columnist. “A wedding invitation is not a bill.” Perhaps, but Barbara Tober, editor in chief of Bride’s magazine, notes that registries are now offered by such diverse institutions as Ace Hardware and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Who knows? If the house-payment idea catches on, can a registry for that minivan be far behind?
