Big game gains interest

PHILADELPHIA — Kevin P. O’Donoghue is going to the Super Bowl. When he gets back, he’ll worry about the house he mortgaged to watch his beloved Eagles.

He’s not alone. Some championship-deprived Philadelphians are so desperate to get down to Jacksonville for the big game that they’re borrowing against their homes to pay for the tickets.

O’Donoghue, who was 11 the last time his team made it to the Super Bowl, promised himself he’d be there if they ever made it again — no matter what it took.

After the Eagles advanced to their first Super Bowl in 24 years, O’Donoghue told his wife: “I don’t care if we have to mortgage our house, I’m going.”

She replied, “Wait a minute, maybe that’s a good idea.”

So O’Donoghue sunk $4,000 on a Super Bowl package that includes round-trip airfare, a four-night hotel stay and one ticket to Sunday’s game. To pay for it, he applied for a home equity line of credit, a way of borrowing money that required him to put up his house as collateral.

“Sometimes the cards are maxed out and you gotta do what you gotta do,” said O’Donoghue, 36, an account executive from Glen Mills.

Mortgage bankers in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey say that Eagles fans have been inquiring about refinancing mortgages, or taking out home equity loans or home equity credit lines, to pay for what O’Donoghue calls “the chance of a lifetime.”

Eric Reeber, a mortgage banker in Mount Laurel, N.J., said his office has gotten at least a dozen calls from Eagles fans looking for some quick cash. He said two couples have already been approved and were scheduled to close on their loans. (He said they were too embarrassed to talk publicly about their borrowing.)

“Some people don’t care if it costs them $100 more a month,” said Reeber, of Northern States Funding Group. “But I’ll stand by it, if they want it.”