"Live Richly"

until about 2 years ago, when it really started going downhill. I worked for 3 different companies in 2 years. I had to move from company to company because they all ended up going out of business while I was working there! First Ameriquest closed around 1000 offices in one month, then a couple of different smaller, locally based mortgage brokerages I worked for after that had to close their doors.

Seeing the industry from both sides, there are a lot of people to blame...

It all starts, of course, with the Fed. You can't leave interest rates at 1-2% for a decade and not expect overborrowing and malinvestment. You are artificially creating an undue incentive to go into debt.

Then you have the mortgage companies and banks, particularly the MORTGAGE COMPANIES. In the days before all this chaos, banks sold mortgages. Then the sub-prime mortgage market bought in companies that ONLY sold mortgages. Ameriquest was like a sweat shop. A really nice cushy sweat shop of course, with all of us having our own expense account. We were making $30,000 base pay plus commission. I made $10,000+/month for 4 months in a row... one month I made around $12,500. I worked there less than a year and made around $80,000. I never cheated or anything, but I saw people going as far as forging documents. $1000-5,000 per loan is a lot of incentive. I saw people pushing customers into loans that were of no real benefit to the customer... other than the $5,000 cash they offered on a refinance as enticement. Nevermind the fact that they were maxing out their house and streching the loan back to 30 years again... I mean, who cares if they already had 8 years completed on their first 30 year mortgage?

And then there are the people who got 100% loans to purchase their homes, many of whom had marginable credit scores, or maybe they didn't have documentable income... all sorts of crazy, STUPID loans were made by these companies. Then they were IMMEDIATELY sold out in bunches as securities. Some pretty scary "securities".

That brings us to the customers. Plenty of them gladly accepted these loans. They wanted $5,000 cash. Many of them had done this before and were familiar with the process. Some of them even joked about how they would probably never pay their home off because they kept having to refi pay off their credit cards!

Like the article above stated... in the old days people didn't dream of doing this kind stuff. A second mortgage was taboo, and you always dreamed and worked hard... waiting for the day when your home was paid off. I remember when my parents paid off our home. They were so excited. Debt free at last! They're passed on now, but they are from that generation that came up from nothing. You know... all our relatives that are, or would be, around 75-90 years old... or older. They lived conservatively, and within their means... just as Dr. Paul says we should do with our budget for the nation.

One could argue for more government regulation, but that's not going to stop people from borrowing money when interest rates are at 2%. People need to gain a new mindset when in comes to their money. The OLD mindset. The mindset of people who started with NOTHING.... and built a business and made a life of comfort for themselves and their family. My Mom grew up in a 2 room shack in Blount Springs, AL. My grandfather and grandmother and 5 kids in a little shack the size of my living room. My granfather went on to start a successful business, and my parents ended up owning a couple of businesses... so obviously the 2nd half of their life was much more enjoyable than the first. But they did the right things. They lived within their means, they saved and invested, and they worked HARD. But, they reaped the rewards of all that sacrifice.

Very few people really live like that today.

Anyone ever listen to Dave Ramsey?

Hmm.., this comment was intended for a post by bfling, but that post has disappeared, so here it is..

I believe it’s extremely important that the message of liberty not be perceived as an attempt at making excuses for rich people exploiting poor ones.

After all, even though the ability to keep more of the fruits of one’s labors, is one of the benefits of smaller government and a free country, no one is going to go door to door campaigning, or work their ass of uncompensated, just to help some Wall Streeter save a few bucks come tax time. Even Ayn Rand wouldn’t do that. That’s just not how people are wired.

Because of this, we have to recognize the reason the leftists have gotten the traction they have for their simplistic and dehumanizing programs, is that they have been very good at zeroing in on what people actually care about; like fairness and concern for the poor. If the freedom movement is ever going to grow beyond a gaggle of Ayn Rand acolytes, we have to move into this territory as well, and take on the leftists on their own turf. If we can’t convince people freedom is not both more fair and, in the end, a better deal for those less fortunate, we’ll never be able to shake our image as a bunch of ‘sock it to the poor’ apologists for the privileged few.

With that in mind, I honestly believe we should realize Citibank hard selling financial products to often poorly informed clients, is at least not something to celebrate. Instead we should focus on, as you did in another post, how the ultimate facilitator for this ‘exploitation’ is government. If we let the leftists monopolize caring about people losing their home, while we primarily occupy ourselves excusing those getting rich from the deal, we’ve lost before the debate has even started.

So, while we should not forget the economic side of the liberty message, the social side, to most people, is at least as important. Hence, if the Ron Paul Movement is going to survive and grow beyond this election, we should take a conciliatory tone, and do our outmost to prevent it from disintegrating into a ‘left’ and a ‘right’ movement. Because, in the end, it’s not about about the rich versus the poor, it’s about the government and those it favors, versus absolutely everybody else.

Are people responsible for their own financial decisions or not? Responsible for investigating the consequences of making a loan on their personal finances and the potential pitfalls? If they see an ad saying we'll loan you money on your house and they go sign up the next day for $50k with out thinking it through? I completely agree with Dr. Paul on the GSE nonsense basically diverting money away from the free market to home mortgages because of the governments "backing", but advertising is a component of the free markets period. Say all you want about "evil" corporate advertising, when you want the government to regulate the advertising I will guarantee things will only be worse. Changing second mortgage to equity loan is not some horrible crime. This is a NY Times article which basically says big banks tricked poor people who aren't smart enought to see the error of what they are signing up for so the GOVERNMENT should get more involved and save us dumb people. "Don't worry, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you". Shoot me now.

Liberty Freedom Peace

Here is the truth....... I saw this coming in the housing market, and I "Had" zero debt. I paid for my house in cash ($120,000) 3 years ago ( I stole it), and have no other debt. About 18 months ago.....I pulled a mortgage on my house for $240,000, when it was worth $310,000. Now it is worth about $270,000. If my home falls in value another 20% or more.......guess what I will have to do? My credit score is about 810 and I will take a hit...Oh well. And I am going to put my house on the market next week in good faith.....and am going to rent a monster condo on the water if it sells.......otherwise......here are the keys, and I will still rent the condo on the water..... Chase can enjoy their new home!!

This is what is happening nationwide.......It is a business decision...nothing more......If this house falls below the $240K mark......or more....what can I do. Also...I am paying taxes on the $310,000 value. I will fight them this year on that...but we will see?

From what I understand....their is a law on the books from the depression era, in regards to defaulting on a mortgage...the debt does not follow you. This is great!......let me google it real fast...Crap ...maybe you guys can help......I can't find it...

Show me the law.....in regards to Mortgage Debt not following the borrower after the property goes back to the lender.

I know it is their....

That is why mortgage debt does not follow a defaulted borrower...

So anyway.....if this keeps going like it is......Chase has another home on their books.....this will get interesting.

for someone to take out a second mortgage. I also remember my parents having to make an appointment with the bank manager to take out their first home loan. It was a major drama and you had to make a strong case for yourself AND have about 20% to put down.

Live Richly?

They should have added, Die Poorly.

___________

Lisa C.

www.dvds4delegates.com=Ron Paul, the 44th U.S. President

Join us at: www.campaignforliberty.com

Brought to you by: www.women4ronpaul.com

for making the mistake of creating too much liquidity so as to prevent the price mechanism operating efficiently, business is attacked for doing what businesses are supposed to be doing: Making as much money as possible. This article is the typical distraction that anti-capitalists delight in to back up their premise that the problem is "greed." Then the propose to solve this "greed" problem with more government regulations, further harming market efficiency.

Recently Citicorp had to sell its German subsidiary, Citibank to Credit Mutuel.
Citibank definetly changed the face of consumer banking in Germany. Germany has a strong tradition of saving (though to ridicolous interest rates). Starting with buying up the German KKB bank - infamously dubbed 'Kinder Kredit Bank' (Children's Credit Bank) for its practis to give excessive credits to young apprentice earning their first loans - they have largely managed to replace this attitude to a "spend now, pay later attitude" leading many consumers into private insolvency.
So what you say about this advertising campaign sounds very familiar to me.

Dr. Paul cured my apathy

me happy that my husband and I try to be careful with money. It was a happy day when we paid our house off. My advice to young people going to college. Student loans are a trap that will enslave you for life. Be VERY VERY wary of them. I think college has become a racket and it's all about the buck and less about knowledge. My husband and I are helping our sons get through without student debt. It is a challenge and they had to go local and commute from home. They were none to happy with us at first. As they see their friends struggling and can't find jobs they see our wisdom now. Peace