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ahhh lovehound...the same oft repeated phrase: deadbeat.
please do apply that same phrase to companies that make business decisions like this every day...and then put your money where your "words" (or mouth) are...stop using them for any business transaction. Boycott their services. Don't buy their goods.
i know a nice off the grid place you could go because that's what you would need to do...this is capitalism. please don't mix capitalism with morality, ethics, etc
I do not disagree that walking away is immoral but at some point you get tired of throwing good money after bad.
Most of us are practical though we are moral to a point, especially when it is convenient for us.
The morally conservative, those underwater (who put 20 percent down, didn't take out 2nd mortgage, etc) are the ones who are really getting screwed.
My guess is regular church attenders default much less, even when strapped. Everntually, though moral behavior is a luxury that many can no longer afford.
This does not account for the strategic defaulters, those who can afford to pay but choose not to. Those who put nothing down and now are living rent-free for 2-3 years actually are making money out of this.
One of my analysts at work bought a place in FL in 2005 for 200k with nothing down. Now it is worth 100k. They just finished doing a short sale where they did not make payments for 18 months, while still collecting rents. They actually ending up making 10k even after fees.
Moral or not, they made the right decision economically. Btw, the rents were only 200 less per month than the mortgage payment and taxes. They could have afforded to lose 200 per month while still making payments.
Of course. This was probably a very smart financial decision.
What do you mean? whose decision? The question in the OP was about ethics.
What I mean is, the bankers will not loose anything personally. The government will end up paying - ordinary tax payers will end up paying. Now, is it ethical to stop paying a mortgage? Probably not, but as an ordinary tax payer I ask myself: do I have the right to judge?
And the answer is No. since I would have done the same thing if that would be better for me and my family.
It is the government, that made it possible, and they are in charge. Can I blame the people? No, since I have personally done nothing to stop it and I have the government that I deserved, with financial advisors of the president now, being the same very people who have driven their banks into bankruptcy and who got multi million bonuses for that.
Most people have an unwritten contract with their family to do their best to help and take care of themselves/each other. In my world this supersedes any moral obligation, with the bank - yup, I think it is important for one to make an attempt to hold strong, but not if the detriment of doing so is larger than the benefit - so it isn't a yes or no, black and/or white thing - it is individual.
It is important to teach your children when to or when not to walk away - people should know better than to force themselves into thinking in absolutes we know darn well know we don't act in absolutes.
"Never run a red light" is immediately thrown out when an 18 wheeler with no sign of slowing is running up behind you - I suppose a good few stand up citizens would hold steady, foot on brake smiling to the end - yeh, I don't think so...
In the end it comes down to whether you would do it or not. Those who wouldn't do it think it's immoral and those who would don't. Just as those who would drive a little buzzed think it's OK.
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This settles it
