Anybody Underwater on their Mortgage (property, company, phone)

[dman72]

Originally Posted by Samrai309

I saw an interesting interview on one of the news shows the other day. There was this economist panel on and they were talking about economic fundamentals and if the stimulus bill would work and all that stuff. Anyway, this one economist had something worked out and he said that if you gave every american 300k instead of paying for this stimulus bill, which he felt would not work, think about the potential--americans could pay down their debt, refinance their loans, banks would have all this capital that would be injected, etc etc....overall purchase power and fiduciary responsibility and behavior could change. He also said it would cost less overall to give each American this money instead of the stimulus bill's projected cost. Of course there are fundamental economic disadvantages to any scenario that is/was talked about but it was an interesting concept nonetheless. Definitely would help with mortgage issues even for people who pay on time and have been responsible.

If you gave every American 300K, that would be over 80 TRILLION dollars.

[Peter B]

Originally Posted by dman72

If you gave every American 300K, that would be over 80 TRILLION dollars.

That's about a quarter of what we've spent in Iraq & Afghanistan so far to secure the oil & bring democracy to Bedouins and the Taliban

[dman72]

Originally Posted by Peter B

That's about a quarter of what we've spent in Iraq & Afghanistan so far to secure the oil & bring democracy to Bedouins and the Taliban

Great priorities our government has.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by ClarkStreetKid

... Growing savings/emergency fund should be factored into the weekly/monthly budget, and that includes when figuring out what you can afford for a monthly mortgage payment.

Things that a young couple may think about going forward; put off buying and continue to rent... try to move to a place where you can save.

Part of Financial Planning 101: Pay yourself first = savings!!

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Samrai309

Are you able to send any extra money to your principal on each payment? Or are you able to split your mortgage into two payments a month (every two weeks) and then send some extra (even a hundred bucks) to the principal on each payment? Theoretically, the extra payments, however much or little, (preferably to match your principal component on your mortgage),the savings in interest each time you do this will cut your fixed mortgage's length over time, serving you the same as a refinanced loan at a lower interest rate....unless I am just misinterpeting how the entire thing works.

It all depends on what your priority is: paying the mortgage off sooner or reducing your monthly payments.

If you make extra payments toward the principal, you will shorten the length of your mortgage, not the fixed payment amount (plus the ever increasing RE tax portion + HO insurance).

If you refinance at a more favorable rate, you'd reduce your monthly fixed payment, etc.
Theoretically, you could then continue to pay the previous amount towards your mortgage and shorten the length...

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by newtoli

One thing that I did hear is that they will be offering refi loans with relaxed requirements on Equity in the home...

3 years later, we are current on payments, never miss one. My husband now has all the tax returns to back up his business income, but we can't refi to a lower rate. If I can simply refi easily (without $10k in closing costs), I'd be happy with that.

Try contacting your lender and ask for a modification - never hurts to ask, and these days, they might be more inclined to agree than a few years ago...
If the first person you speak to declines your request, ask to speak with a supervisor/manager; they might be able to do something more than the other employee.

Good luck!

[newtoli]

Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti

Try contacting your lender and ask for a modification - never hurts to ask, and these days, they might be more inclined to agree than a few years ago...
If the first person you speak to declines your request, ask to speak with a supervisor/manager; they might be able to do something more than the other employee.

Good luck!

My company is indymac, which is now indymac FEDERAL banks. They actually have a link on their website to request modification/lower payment/refi. It's worth a shot! I won't do it if I have to go late or damage my credit.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by newtoli

My company is indymac, which is now indymac FEDERAL banks. They actually have a link on their website to request modification/lower payment/refi. It's worth a shot! I won't do it if I have to go late or damage my credit.

Good for you! And I agree, deliberately damaging your credit isn't worth it, unless you're going that route anyway if you don't get the modification...

[TomMoser]

Rick Santelli's Shout Heard 'Round the World - General * US * News * Story - CNBC.com

[dman72]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

Rick Santelli's Shout Heard 'Round the World - General * US * News * Story - CNBC.com

Unbelievable that guys who work in the Mercantile Exchange are complaining about 80B when the banks just walked away with 700B, a good chunk of which went into paying bonuses to their buddies at the country club.

The whole Wall St mentality is incredibly insular.