1.   During the past year the market share of adjustable loans ballooned as interest rates climbed.

2.   Fixed-mortgage rates have hit the highest level in more than three years, but consumers can reduce their borrowing costs by taking out adjustable loans.

3.   Gumbinger cautioned that refinancing into an adjustable loan might raise cash or restructure debt but it would not help retire a mortgage.

4.   Home owners who took out adjustable loans several years ago, when starting rates were much higher, have grown accustomed to monthly payments that bob up and down.

5.   If anyone has a question about discount rates or adjustable loans, Kase is the answer man.

6.   Loan officer Scott Sandefur said borrowers, who a few months ago could afford a fixed-rate loan, at first are wary of adjustable loans.

7.   Moreover, interest costs for fixed-rate loans have risen faster than for adjustable loans.

8.   Neil Bader, the chief executive of the Skyscraper Mortgage Co. in New York, said low fixed rates would not mark the end of the adjustable loan.

9.   The adjustable loan gives them a lower interest rate initially, but is open to adjustment at specific intervals during the term of the loan.

10.   The adjustable loans are harder to sell as securities.