Heartbreaking..and avoidable
Oct 23, 2008 (21 hours ago)Heartbreaking…and completely avoidablefrom Digital Pivot by AlmaGray
My parents lost their home a year ago due to predatory lending, so when I read this article http://tinyurl.com/3zz837 I found it especially heartbreaking.
I understand prior to the wave of foreclosures some homeowners were living well beyond their means, but at the same time, you have homeowners like the lady mentioned in the article. My husband, a former mortgage loan officer shakes his head in disgust when he hears such stories. We recently attended a dinner for http://www.esop-cleveland.org/ where Dennis Kucinich gave a crowd rousing speech, and heard first hand accounts from predatory loan victims. Had our government taken a stance such as ESOP’s, perhaps the foreclosure figures wouldn’t be as high as reported.
I don’t necessarily believe everyone deserves bail out from a foreclosure situation. For example, if you make a decent/livable salary and are fully conscious of the fact that you cannot afford a half million dollar home on a $50,000/yr salary with additional credit card debt, then you should know better than to take the loan. Claiming ignorance is ridiculous in that circumstance–you’d be as guilty as the slimy mortgage broker forging the loan docs.
Seems as though the line between victims of predatory loan practices and those living beyond their means has become increasingly blurred in the eyes of our government.
Article Tags: down economy | foreclosures | government bailout | predatory lending
Filed under: Election, Interactive, News article, TV, Technology, Uncategorized, blogging, social media
Great points! I only add one other perspective that I have experienced personally: extended job loss. I have been un/underemployed in the State of Ohio for almost two years and am currently attempting to save my home from foreclosure. Never would I, nor I suspect many others, have anticipated not being empolyed at a job which pays a livable wage for such an extended period of time. However, Ohio is number one/two in both job loss and foreclosure and is now one of 26 states officially declared to be in a recession.
So what happens now? How does anyone maintain any lifestyle and contribute to our households, community, and economy when jobs in our area are so scarce?
What do we do when so many different factors are coming together to create a very real and scary economic picture?
Foreclosures are, I fear, only the tip of the iceburg.
However, these questions are real and both we the consumer, and our government, will be required to answer them in the years to come!!