Why should we do this?
Okay, supposedly Bush is going to unveil a plan to work with the mortgage industry that would freeze introductory rates for five years. This would allow people to continue paying their lower payments instead of having it balloon to a higher percentage rate and payment. The problem is, many people can NOT afford the payments when it balloons and it causes them to lose the house to foreclosure.
My question is, why the hell are we helping stupid people?
Where is the personal responsibility anymore? Seriously? When people sign up for a loan, they have to read and understand what the hell it says. If it says that it will balloon in five years to a higher percentage, then you have to account for that. I don’t feel the least bit sorry for someone who signed up over their head for an ARM and then cannot afford to pay when the percentage spikes.
People having a mortgage they can barely pay, and then losing their job, those are the people I feel sorry for. I have to admit, if I lose my job I would be scrambling to pay the mortgage. So why is it they aren’t introducing legislation that will help those people? Instead they are helping people who KNEW that their payments were going to go up and now can’t pay. Or the people were too stupid to read the loan in the first place.
So this plan will help stupid people keep lower percentages and payments for five years. For five years these people are probably paying a much lower rate than I am on my fixed-rate mortgage. You see, I knew I couldn’t afford a balloon payment, so I logically went fixed. It was a higher rate, but I know I won’t have any surprises down the road. So stupid people get lower rates than me for five years even though I was the responsible one and got a mortgage I can actually afford.
No personal responsibility at all and our government is going to facilitate it. Pisses me off.