Homeowner Bailout: Godsend or Devils Advocate!
By rodney850
@rodney850 (2145)
United States
July 30, 2008 11:03am CST
It seems that president Bush has done what most Americans expected him to do and that is to sign into law the homeowner rescue bill I ask you though, is this a rescue of homeowners who have been lied to and swindled or people who have gone into this with their eye wide open and just "believed" they could pay for it but in truth were fiscally irresponsible?
In the following link you will find some Q & A's about who qualifies for this assistance and some of it's shortcommings! There are two that stick out like sore thumbs to me and those are:
1) To qualify for this assistance you have to have spent at least 31% of your monthly income (assuming gross not net)on mortgage payments! Whoa! Who, in their right mind spends 31% of their gross monthly income on a house? I do realize that some of this comes from adjustable rates but I have an adjustable mortgage which I have spent an average of 650 per month in the last 4 years and it comes to about 11% of my and my spouses monthly income! I've seen three payment increases and one decrease over the last four years! I just dont know how you get to 31% if you weren't already close to that when you signed!
2)(and this is the one that sticks in my craw) After the American taxpayer bails out the seriously financially irresponsible homeowners with their hardearned tax dollars, the government has the audacity to tell these people that if they want to sell their home, the government (FHA) gets half the profit! Wait a minute! I'm financing this with my taxes and then the government takes the windfall if the house is sold? Give me a break!
Read it for yourself:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_bi_ge/mortgage_relief_q_a
1 person likes this
2 responses
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
30 Jul 08
I think the appropriate thing to have done was put the stupid MORTGAGE companies on notice! They are the ones responsible for letting these people get in debt up to their eyebrows! All they can see is money, money, money. They don't give a hoot about a family losing their homes. Sure, a person is going to go after whatever they think OR are told by a mortgage company that they can afford, regardless if their are lights going on in their head that means 'do not do it!'.
A person with perfectly good credit who might be able to pull it off could buy the home. Then, with their 'perfectly good credit' open up a couple of charge cards with humongous credit available and rack up too much credit that they then can't afford to pay their mortgage. This is not the fault of the mortgage company. But, still, why would any company allow someone to pay 31% of their income for a house? That is insane!
If this is the kind of assistance that the government is giving, I think it's actually STEALING the consumers money! Why not make the mortage companies LOWER their rates where the people can actually afford the homes! Let the mortgage companies be the losers!
@rodney850 (2145)
• United States
30 Jul 08
Barb,
Thanks for the comment.
I totally agree! The government maybe had to step in and help Fannie and Freddie but what they came up with I feel will only exacerbate the problem. Not to mention the mortgage companies don't have to go along with it!
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
30 Jul 08
I love the way people up in Washington D.C think that they have the right to spend our money however they see fit. If someone bought a house that was too expensive for them, and at 31% of their income that is to expensive. If that means you choose the smaller house, or a different neighborhood, then that is what you have to do. I actually do not have a problem with someone who takes the bailout that the seller will lose half of the profits. My problem is I am the one that owns a piece of that house not the FHA. Who is paying for the bailout you and me, but there is no benefits for us. We are part of the 95% that is paying our mortgage.
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