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The government should focus on predatory lending firms and let the rest shake itself out.
When I was laid off in 2003 it was at the onset of our war in Iraq. President Bush announced that it would take $70 billion to rebuild their infrastructure and congress approved the plan. It was one of the worst job markets in my lifetime, people here were starting a slide into financial oblivion and we were sending tax dollars to foreign soil. And even under those circumstances I didn't believe the government was responsible for fixing my problem (though I thought it wrong that they'd help the Iraqi people before their own citizens).
No one put a gun to anyone's head and made people apply for bad mortgages. When I bought my Long Island downfall in 2002 I did so only because I could put down nearly 1/3 of the price and use a conventional (non-jumbo) mortgage to finance the rest. I never, ever, ever would've taken out a no-money down loan or an interest only deal.
It killed me to use our equity to pay our monthly bills but in the moment it was the only sane choice when it came to my family and my children. I don't regret my decision; I only wish I'd managed the aftermath better. We should've sacrificed more when the money started flowing again to shed our excess debt. It might not have prevented us from needing to relocate but it would've bought us more time, maybe enough to get our children through high school.
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" Charleston South Carolina"
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Location: home...finally, home .
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I'm not sure I understand. If I worked hard and paid off my whole mortgage by myself & my neighbor wasted his money on cars and vacations and is now in default, then my taxes pay to bail him out ? Is that how it is? Clamboy?
I'm not sure I understand. If I worked hard and paid off my whole mortgage by myself & my neighbor wasted his money on cars and vacations and is now in default, then my taxes pay to bail him out ? Is that how it is? Clamboy?
Lets hope not....I dont agree with it either.
We lived beneath our means..why should we be penalized?
However I do believe that the Mortgage industry needs a sweeping overhaul.
They definitely drove the wrong behavior at the expense of others for their own personal gain.
Those SOBs are worse than the Fund Managers who hoodwinked pre Enron America.
I believe some people were victims of predatory lenders... The people I include in this category are those who could have qualified for a fixed rate mortgage but were put in some "exotic" mortgage instead -- and I believe those people should be helped, if possible. (These would be the people who could actually afford the homes they chose to buy under the traditional rules for getting a mortgage.) My idea of "rescue" would involve things like waiving the prepayment penalty and allowing them to refinance at a fixed rate... But those are the only people I believe we should be helping.
Not to burst anyone's bubbles, but none of the reforms is out to help people. They are out to help the financial industry. Which, as it happens, needs doing...
Not to burst anyone's bubbles, but none of the reforms is out to help people. They are out to help the financial industry. Which, as it happens, needs doing...
I'll take your word on the idea that the industry needs help as I don't know enough about those particulars.
What kind of help though? Bailouts? Tighter lending controls and rules of doing business?
I'm leery of shoving money at businesses that did a poor job of managing their business or wrecklessly gambled.
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