In my opinion, part of the blame lies with the consumers; but I put a majority of the blame of the mortgage companies for taking advantage of the consumers. I will take all opinions: Good or Bad.
2007-12-19 01:19:09 · 5 answers · asked by mcollinsvcollins2003 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Listen closely. I am a sycic therapist. I will tell you what your future hooooooolds... don't mess with mortgage companies.. they're bad, your better off going to colorado and buying a pack of cigarets for your 4 year old son named Joseph L. Henry. You know someone named Ashley Carnivour? Yes, yes she has done something great for you? Si, yo tengo grande perro. I know Spanish, im trilingle though. I can speak to animals too... im also Tri Sexual. Animals, soul, and women kind. No guys, thats di-o-scusting.
2007-12-19 01:30:38 · answer #1 · answered by Ben S 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I think there is a lot of blame to go around. Certainly mortgage companies took advantage of a lot of people. There were some (many?) unscrupulous lenders who misrepresented the financial terms, perhaps even outright lied to people, just to get the commissions. I was horrified to sit next to a mortgage broker at a meeting who was bragging that he "put people in houses who had no business being in houses."
But, consumers should know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Used to be you saved up a 20 percent down payment before you bought a house. Now, you don't have to put anything down, and some people were buying huge houses with non-traditional loans. Get the biggest interest-only payment you can afford and what a nice house! Get adjustable rate mortgates and just refinance when the payment adjusts and you can't afford it. Even if you don't put anything down, your house will appreciate and you can refinance based on the appreciation value.
I can't decide if people are really that uninformed and gullible, or they just wanted to believe what suited them at the time.
There are also people who refinanced their homes to pay off credit cards, adn then ran the credit cards way up.
We sure have forgotten the lessons of the depression and the dangers of buying things on credit.
2007-12-19 09:39:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that the government will clamp down on regulation - reducing your options and the products available to you.
I do not blame lenders for writing the loans, though since many of them are going under - I do wonder why they did not just leave the rates as they were (not bump up) and continue operating - seems like that would be better than this situation.
Consumers are to blame - they did not read, they did not get independant advice, they did not consider their finances, they did not know how to budget or plan for emergencies, they did not know how to live within their means.
My understanding is that typical loans jumped from say $1200 a month to $1500 a month. If you cannot survive a $300 increase in housing costs for a year or two without loosing your home, you could not afford it to begin with. Period.
Governement bail outs and regulations that allow people to stay ignorant despite the public funding of their education is a dead end strategy.
R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y
2007-12-19 09:53:24 · answer #3 · answered by yakrafter 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think a lot of people were ignorant and just did not know. A friend of mine had a FICO score of 780 she makes a very decent salary and she somehow got an adjustable rate mortgage. When I found out I told her get a fixed rate as soon as you can (she didn't-she talked to her broker instead and in my opinion this person lied to her). Her mortgage payment more than doubled-before she did not problem making her loan payments-now that they are getting ready to jump again she is getting worried. She cut out a few things and was able to make the payments when it jumps again she will have to get a second job.
With a lot of people they could not understand what they read. They trusted the mortgage brokers and used who they suggested-wrong move.
2007-12-20 00:53:26 · answer #4 · answered by gloria in nyc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
oh, there's plenty of blame to go around. The consumers who got burned should have been more realistic in what they could afford, the lenders shouldn't have encouraged the consumers to buy more than they could afford (just because you can get approved to buy something, doesn't mean you can afford it or should get it).
As to what the futrure holds, the lenders will now be more selective in what they are willing to approve. As to how long that will last, who knows.
2007-12-19 10:09:01 · answer #5 · answered by Invisigoth 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋