Obama: Aid 9 million homeowners

Obama: Aid 9 million homeowners

money.cnn.com

President Obama unveiled a $75 billion multi-pronged plan Wednesday that seeks to help up to 9 million borrowers suffering from falling home prices and unaffordable monthly payments.

The long-awaited foreclosure fix marks a sharp departure from the Bush administration, which relied mainly on having servicers voluntarily modify troubled mortgages.

Obama, on the other hand, will make it easier homeowners to afford their monthly payments either by refinancing the mortgages or having their loans modified. The president is vastly broadening the scope of the government rescue by focusing on homeowners who are still current in their payments but at risk of default. And he puts billions of federal funds into enticing servicers to modify the loans of those who've already stopped paying.

While still voluntary, the program contains a mix of carrots and sticks for mortgage servicers and investors, both of whom have been seen as resistant to modifying loans. The program would not only give servicers $1,000 for each modification, but would give them another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower stays current. It will also give $500 to servicers and $1,500 to mortgage holders if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind.

But the administration is also wielding a big stick. It will work with Congress to amend bankruptcy laws to allow judges to modify mortgages, a step community advocates say is badly needed but that the financial industry abhors.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, I guess this is good news in a way, since the housing crisis is what seemed to jump-start this economic crisis. People have been hollering about helping out the foreclosure situation, and now they are.

We will be paying for this...those of us who were responsible and didn't live beyond our means.

money.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

My husband and I are one of the couples that take care of our obligations and don't live beyond our means. There are lots of things we'd like to have but we can't afford it and we've never turned to credit because we know that we wouldn't be able to pay it back.

I fume everytime I think about our money going to bail out people that don't have enough sense to keep their neck out of the noose because they think they deserve the same thing everyone else has regardless of whether they have the money or not.

I suppose it's now the norm for irresponsibility to be rewarded at the expense of those who are responsible.

I guess having pride in paying your own way doesn't exist anymore for a lot of folks.

right. excuse me while i don't believe this for a second. more pablum for the rapidly awakening masses. hold your breath and all that's gonna happen is you'll turn blue and pass out.

I just don't see this as being fair. Why should irresponsible people be helped out while responsible ones get no help or reward?

I guess the best thing to do is to quit my job and live off the government. With the health insurance, subsidies, free programs, food assistance, bill assistance, etc. I will probably be making twice as much as i am making now.

Who says it doesn't pay to be poor?

reply to post by soldiermom


A sense of entitlement has replaced the need for personal responsibility in a lot of people.

Kind of a sad commentary on our society.

Just wait until you see the strings attached to anyone who signs aboard this plan. But most will accept the handout not reading the fine print as they did the first go around. One more step toward socialism.

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Cloudsinthesky]

Give me an S
Give me an O
Give me an C
Give me an I
Give me an A
Give me an L
Give me an I
Give me an S
Give me an M

Though I do agree something needs to be done about the mortgage crisis, this, to me is just going to be another unfair bailout of irresponsibility. Before I get flamed, let me say that I do agree that there are many people that do deserve help and should get it. There are plenty of people who may be in trouble over their loss of a job or their house value has plummeted, but for the other people who got caught up with "keeping up with the Jones", they should be allowed to fail and be removed from their homes, hard lesson learned!

My neighbor foreclosed on her home simply because she went with an adjustable rate mortgage. She had a friend by the house back at a foreclosed price of $100,000 off her original mortgage. My neighbor now lives in her home again (with her friend). When I asked her about her credit being destroyed, she told me that she didn't care, that there would always be ways around it and that she believed Obama eventually would come up with a plan to help out people that had bad credit due to foreclosures.

This attitude is what is destroying our economy and by bailing people out every time they are irresponsible, there is no lesson learned. It's like never disciplining your children. They will keep pushing farther and farther to see how much more they can get away with. This is what our bailouts are doing, further spoiling the brats of this country!

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Mudman21]

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Mudman21]

He's only been in a month and look at the damage!

The non-stimulating 'stimulus'.
Bailing out of companies.
Now bailing out people who were IRRESPONSIBLE.

All us responsible people who live within our means are now being forced to support those who shouldn't be getting a stink'n dime.

get off your high horses and expand your horizons. if by some wild stretch of the imagination helping someone helps the economy and the country as a whole, i'm all for it. i just don't happen to believe that's what's really going to happen. the ones they're going to "help" are the rich pukes. as always. no one who really made an honest mistake or was lied to or coerced into a bad decision is going to get an ounce of help and they're going to take the rest of us down with them.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Honest mistake....lied to...coerced....

I suppose you are talking about the people who got loans they couldn't afford and didn't bother to read what they were signing?

reply to post by skeptic1


It's very sad indeed. It's situations like this that make me feel a little less charitable toward my fellow man because I'm constantly being forced to be charitable whether I want to or not. I want to help people that have a legitimate reason for being down on their luck. Not because they chose to be there because of poor decision making on their part.

I let my kids know on a regular basis that noone is entitled to anything unless they work for it and know they can continue to afford it.

This money should not go to anyone that knew up front they couldn't afford what they were buying. Consequences anyone?

Originally posted by jam321
I just don't see this as being fair. Why should irresponsible people be helped out while responsible ones get no help or reward?

I guess the best thing to do is to quit my job and live off the government. With the health insurance, subsidies, free programs, food assistance, bill assistance, etc. I will probably be making twice as much as i am making now.

Who says it doesn't pay to be poor?

Apparently, it pays a lot better to do the wrong thing than it does to do the right.

I heard about this on my morning drive today. My first question was, "does this guy have a plan other than throwing money at problems"

Seriously, so far since O has been in the WH all he has done is toss our money around and hope it works.

Take a look at the Detroit public schools to see how well a bunch of money with no plan has worked in the past.

Originally posted by skeptic1
reply to post by ~Lucidity

 

Honest mistake....lied to...coerced....

I suppose you are talking about the people who got loans they couldn't afford and didn't bother to read what they were signing?

Exactly. Not everyone's a financial genius, and if you weren't personally exposed to the sales and marketing tactics used by these companies you probably really shouldn't comment.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


No, but I can read. And, I never sign anything that I don't read first. If I don't understand something, I make sure that I get some help before I put my name on any contract.

These people should have done the same.

People have to take responsibility for their actions and not play the blame game.

I am nowhere near a financial genius, but I can guarantee you that I will know every detail of any contract before I sign it, be it a car loan, mortgage, etc.

I learned my lesson the hard way when I was young and ignorant. The people I see having these issues are older people, who should know better. My neighbor is 63 years old for God's sake. If you haven't figured these things out by that age, you should be living in a box under a bridge.

reply to post by soldiermom


I don't want to be offensive, but perhaps I am just saying this because of your username and avatar look.

but you seem to be like the type of american patriot that only blames the people and never the govt. or whoever are in the govt.'s pockets.
these foreclosed-home people aren't irresponsible, they are victims of a mortgage SCAM!

If the people don't blame the source history will always repeat itself

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
reply to post by soldiermom

 

I don't want to be offensive, but perhaps I am just saying this because of your username and avatar look.

but you seem to be like the type of american patriot that only blames the people and never the govt. or whoever are in the govt.'s pockets.
these foreclosed-home people aren't irresponsible, they are victims of a mortgage SCAM!

If the people don't blame the source history will always repeat itself

Is anyone responsible for their own actions anymore? How can you say these people are victims of a mortgage scam?

Stop blaming everyone else. It is their fault that they are in the position to lose their homes. They took out loans that they could not afford, they agreed to terms they could not meet and did it any way. It is simple math really. If you only bring home 40K per year and purchase a 500K home with a $2500 per month mortgage payment chances are that you will not be able to make the payments since 75% of your income is going to your mortgage. Leaving only 25% for the rest of your living expenses.

Yes some blame should go to the banks for loaning money to people that could not afford it but ultimately the responsibility has to be on the individual to know if they can afford it.

[edit on 2/18/2009 by Erasurehead]