Solution;
Make loan origination strictly a fiduciary-constrained business, and the practitioners will primarily be fee-based financial planners and attorneys.

Then John & Jane Public will no longer have to stand-guard on their own sense of personal responsibility and caution.

Of course... there will be a cost for the responsibility guardrails... and the payors will be those who would have otherwise been quite responsible & cautious enough on their own.

Dave Donhoff
Leverage Planner

I consider these lenders to be terrorists. They not only damage the borrowers, but ALL of us---the entire economy. They have done more damage than 9/11 did to us. They should all be sent to prison for life.

I suppose there are still a few living in caves, but with all that's been in the papers, on TV, the radio, the internet, chit-chat around the water cooler - anyone who is still willing to lie on a loan application really sorta oughta get what they deserve. And it's not sympathy.

I don't know what it is - some do more research into buying a big screen TV than for a house to put it in. That just makes it so much easier for some unscrupulous lenders to continue their predatory practices. I'm sure someone's out there devising the next perfect housing market scam right now.

I consider these lenders to be terrorists. They not only damage the borrowers, but ALL of us---the entire economy. They have done more damage than 9/11 did to us.

WOW....
just wow

actually kinda sad to see,
the things I learn on the Internet??

The stuff that one sees on the internet ...

... needs a bit of sifting.

There's wheat ... and there's chaff.

And ... straw ... that we used to collect in the field, put into the barn, then put under the cows and pigs (horses, too) to make comfortable bedding ...

... then throw out, along with the animals' by-product ...

... and carry it back to spread on the field.

To fertilize the next crop.

ole joyful

So many consumers just want it now as witnessed by many of those who ran up credit card debt unnecessarily. They have little concern about just what the end (total) cost will be once something is ever totally paid off. Also, wasn't it often common practice in the past, and considered OK, to some how, some way, borrow any necessary money needed for a down payment......having absolute no savings available?

Sue

The stuff that one sees on the internet ...
... needs a bit of sifting.

ole joyful, are you advising me to sift over some people comparing bad loans to thousands of innocent people being killed.

or put it out there in the field to fertilize the crops... okay, done

I feel so much better now. thank you
Good night

You can't put the total blame on borrowers for not reading the fine print. Lenders have a fiduciary responsiblity to disclose what the borrower is getting in to. The fine print on a lot of these loans would take an MBA to understand.

These subprime loans were done for one reason---to make money for the lender. They didn't care one iota if the borrower could afford it.

To tear society apart thru these kinds of selfish practices should merit a prison term. Proper selfishness is to realize that if I take care of my brother, he will be able to do HIS part to keep the wheels of society turning. He prospers, I prosper. To think in any other terms means that the wheel of society starts to fall off and Rome burns. Worshipping at the altar of money and throwing legality and morality out the window is a prescription for disaster.

When one considers the financial devastation that has happened to many families over these lousy mortgages, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of members of those families, often the breadwinner, may have taken their own lives. Leaving a family devastated, not only emotionally, but financially, as well.

That is only speculation on my part.

I agree ... I felt that comparing some financial skullduggry, even on a massive basis, to the loss of life on 9-11 was rather a poor comparison.

While it has cost me financially, it's only money and I am in no way devastated by the loss, sweating blood, so to speak.

It is another bad feather in the U.S. cap though, in that their worldwide reputation has suffered another black mark because of it. And they've rather squandered the good feeling and support that took place in the international community following 9-11, I think.

The U.S. used to be a net exporter of goods, and a major creditor nation, but have become a major importer, and one of the world's major debtor nations.

Not a pleasant position in which to be.

ole joyful

I think both lenders and borrowers are incredibly unpatriotic.

i might not go so far as to call them terrorists, but they are unpatriotic.

I think it's time to start defining patriotism in ways that aren't limited to military service and flag waving.

(not the I have anything against military service--I have a brother in the Army, and relatives in the other services. But it's not the only way you serve your country)

I agree w/ green-zeus in saying that this sort of selfishness is incredibly damaging to the rest of us, and it is un-American. It is unpatriotic.

Oh, I would love to be president for a day because:

What these greedy, loan shark lenders have done has threatened the very roof over our heads. It isn't just about money when basic needs like housing are at stake. No question: The people who made these irresponsible loans should face criminal prosecution. The people who *lied* on their loan applications to get these loans should never be able to get credit again. Ever. The people who took advantage of these crazy loans to ring up huge amounts of debt, now want taxpayers to bail them out of their stupid choices. If we do bail them out they should be renters from here on out. And the rent won't be cheap.

These losers have damaged our neighborhoods and threatened our economy. There need to be consequences.

I should have explained my comparison of 9/11 to these predatory lenders. I was speaking in strict economic terms--not loss of life. You remember how 9/11 hurt the economy. Bin Ladin had said,at that time, that their desire was to cripple the United States monetarily since he knew he couldn't do it militarily.

So after this crisis, then corporate America cooked the books on their businesses. That sent the economy down. We were just recovering from THAT when the banks started subprime mortgages. What were they thinking? Didn't they remember the lesson of Japan doing the same thing during their high-flying economy of the 80's? They had so much money flying around that they felt they could float all the riskier loans because they felt there was no end to the economic boom.

We were just starting to recover from the book-cooking schemes when the subprime loans started appearing.

ALL these people just seem like terrorists to me because they are attacking us and the economy for their own self-serving purposes. An analysis of how this got to be so prevalent in the lending business was done on Nightly Business Report. One lender followed another because they knew if they didn't, they wouldn't make any loans. Even the mono-line insurers followed!!!!!

You turn your computer on and the computer terrorists attack you with spyware. Everywhere we turn today the only purpose we serve, to this evil segment of society, is our pockets.

Ole Joyful sure has it correct in what he said. He was very careful in choosing his words so as to not offend. He should have just said it like it really is. This country is losing its specialness in the world because it has replaced its value system with the value of money alone, and above all. Very sad.

There is nothing wrong in MAKING money. But it does matter HOW you make it. And scamming people is not MAKING money---it is only GETTING money. Thru MAKING money, you provide value and service to people. You make the world a better place. In GETTING money, you are little better than a drug dealer. All business people need a strict course in ethics, for they know not what they do.

Keep in mind that the loan products themselves are not bad. There can be legitimate uses for creative financing and I know a number of people with creative mortgage loans who are nowhere near foreclosure. However, when the ETHICS of the parties involved or their EXPERIENCE LEVEL is less than average, THAT'S when the problems arise. And you find questionable ethics in every industry and in many countries and have found it since the beginning of time (in my humble opinion).