Some people are idiots and they shouldn't own homes. Case in point.

Our Options:

A: Bail people out and their irresponsible lenders, keeping them in their homes.

B. Let the market correct itself, teaching them a hard lesson in money management and smart lending.

The only thing I would like to see the government do is a REQUIRED financial planning class for all Seniors in High School. Way more important than advanced algebra, IMO. I bet it would cut the average citizen's debt considerably, and knock most predatory lenders out of business.

Heeeeres the mitchells no foreclosure on record yet...yea I have access to all that stuff;):cool:

07/20/2001 Lender Name: WELLS FARGO HM MTG INC Sale Price: $128,900.00 Title Company: LAND TITLE CORP Sale Code: UNKNOWN Loan Amt Other: N/A Document #: 000002867347 Seller: DELENE DAVID J & JANICE L Document Type: GRANT DEED Prior Sales Price: $111,500.00 Deed Type: DEED OF TRUST Prior Sales Date: N/A Loan Amt 1 St: $126,908.00 Prior Doc #: 000002699242 Loan type: FEDERAL HOUSING AUTHORITY Prior Doc Type: GRANT DEED Assessment and Tax Information Assessed Value: $9,640.00 Assessed Improved Value: $7,250.00 Assessed Land Value: $2,390.00 Assessed Improved %: 75.21% Market Value: $121,092.00 Market Improved Value: $91,092.00 Market Land Value: $30,000.00 Market Improved %: 75.23% Tax Area: 0180 Tax Year: 2007 Owner Exempt: N/A Tax Amount: $535.34

It doesn't take much more than basic addition and subtraction to figure out their financial situation.

The craziest thing I see is affection for credit cards and peoples thirst to consume. I have one client that received a substantial cash windfall, her credit is one of the worst I have seen and she wants to buy a house no matter what it takes.

The kicker is she already has a house and intends to let the house foreclose just so she can move a few miles away into an inferior house, I think just for the sake of making a deal on something, it's bazaar.

There's a lot that was left out of that story. It was obviously written to make people feel outraged at mortgage companies. I have a feeling they were living way above their means on those credit cards. There are plenty of other better solutions to their problem that walikng away from that mortgage.

They'll live to regret it. Oh the other hand, maybe now they'll learn to live within their means, since it will be a lot harder to borrow money now.

They can't cry predatory lending, stated income, no doc, the loan they have is an FHA.........guess who's paying the insurance on that.

On the contrary, I think that illustrating (academically) how quickly interest can compound and add up would startle some kids. Most just don't think about it before the spend, spend, spend (obviously).

Credit cards...What do you think is normal?...

Maybe since WE, the tax payers have to foot the bill for this crap in the end, the local or state government should require that potential buyers get a license or pass a test before they can apply for a mortgage. You'd have to prove that you possess at least a rudimentary knowledge of personal finance and MIGHT be capable of handling such responsibilities.

Exactly. And that's what kept me plugging away all these years once I woke up.

I know of a couple (not friends, former acquaintances of my SIL) who filed for bankruptcy to get themselves out of CC and gambling debt. Man did that pissed me off because the were really living it up after that. Turns out the guy's parents put his house in their name and were making the payments for him. The couple has since divorced and the last the ex-wife heard the guy had buried himself again.

It's so sad to see people get themselves into situations like that, but no one can change them if they don't want to change themselves. Still, it's hard to stand by and watch, like a train wreck.

I have a close friend who has a family member going through this. She would like to help, but her family member would just end up in the same situation again.

The industry is working on it, home ownership classes are making a comeback.

This former couple was in their mid-30's, it's not like they were kids who still needed mom and dad's help. Although I still see plenty of that going around so I guess it really shouldn't come as a surprise. Just wish I were on the receiving end :P

Growing up I always wondered why my father would never co-sign for anything. It took awhile but lesson learned.

Our truck driver's wife is always bailing their 3 kids, all in their 20's-30's, out of one mess or another seemingly on a monthly basis. Much to his chagrin. He just tells me to wait, I'll see. I'm thinking, bullllllllsht.

Here in Michigan the most common story is job loss, engineers and white collar folks are getting whacked on a daily basis. It usually starts with the termination, they look for local work at month one, month 2 they look out of state, months 3-6 they find a job out of state. At that point their resources are depleted and can't sell their home the only wise financial choice they can make is file bankruptcy and let their home foreclose, how can a salaried 45-50ish person make up for a loss like that?

I used to think like many people on this forum about people and their debt and its easy to say how stupid and bad they are for walking on their debt, just hope you are never in that situation.