Posted on 12/07/2009 10:58:22 AM PST by Lorianne
Trust me. When we first bought it, it wasn’t going to win an beauty contests.
No. You miss the point. I don't sit in a glass house because I do not have credit card debt -- much less $20,000 in credit card debt. I have no second mortgage and have enough to make my mortgage payments for the foreseeable future. I don't expect the government to bail me out because I ran up all those debts. It's not being smug, it's being responsible.
Those quotes are from an earlier post #28 by driftdiver. Not mine.
“No. Our government made the mess when they changed the law and forced banks to give out economically unsound loans.”
The govt forced banks to make SOME loans. They certainly didn’t force this one. Nor did they force many many of the loans out there. nor the sale of mortgage back securities.
“The banks were left very little choice”
The banks had ample choice, they were feeding on the gravy train and didn’t want it to end.
Nope, as a matter of fact, I was $65K in consumer debt, not including the house on a $30K /year salary. I made more than my share of dumb-ass decisions; like $1200 worth of encyclopedias for a 1 year old. I also came to realize that my situation was of my own making. Example, I quit banking with Commerce, because their business practices were geared at garnering as many over-draft fees as possible. Eventually, I under stood that Commerce's policies were the root cause of the problem; the problem was that I was bouncing checks.
If the lender did anything illegal, then they should pay. They should also get bad press for preying on stupid people who can't do basic math. In the end, it is the consumer's responsibility to ensure that they are not making a dumb decision.
People not taking personal responsibility, and pointing fingers in every direction, except the proper one is the EXACT reason the financial meltdown happened, and how we got an incompetent Marxist in the White House.
As part of the refinancing, they took out a mortgage in the amount of $464,000 from HSBC bank with an interest rate of 6.8 percent, and a simultaneous second loan from Citimortgage for $126,000. The latter loan came with an interest rate of 9.5 percent. In all the refinancings, the couple never used an attorney.
They also financed lifestyle with debt. House = $520k loans = $464k + $126k = $590k. Paid off $20k in cred car, so $590k - $520k = $70K that they mined out of the house. - $20k to pay off the cred card leaves $50k of cash that they apparently spent on things that they couldn't afford. Sympathy meter for these irresponsible morons = 0. Screw 'em. They deserve to get kicked out for stupidity.
You nailed it. These people couldn't manage their own finances, I point that out, and I'm called rude, and smug by some FReepers. Personal responsibility people!
You paid 60K in cash at the closing? Or was the total cost of the house 60K?
They had a rental house, with no tenant. While it may look like they burned cash on an extravagant lifestyle, it is possible that there were a series of mistakes and bad judgments made in terms of their ‘investment’ which destroyed them.
You owed over twice your annual salary in consumer debt? How long did it take to get out of it? What were your methods?
Oops. My apologies.
Total cost of the house.
The previous owners were in a tight spot. The house was paid off, however it was left in less than ideal conditions. The furnance was 37 years old and barely worked, needed a new roof, the paneling and acoustic ceiling were bubbled and falling, the siding was destroyed, needed new wiring, black mold in the bathroom. They needed to move pretty quickly to care for a sick relative and we negotiated a private sale at $47,000 for the property. After taxes and closing costs, it came to $60,000.
My wife had a spending problem, and I couldn’t tell her no, so it was really easy to get into it; Finger Hut, Sears, JC Pennys all used to send us Christmas cards as a Thank You for keeping them going through slow sells times. It took us 6 years of to get out from under it all; 4 years of semi serious trying and 2 years of serious work, including counciling which helped my wife’s spending problem.
We were doing the Dave Ramsey thing, before we knew what it was; rice and beans, beans and rice, lots of overtime, pay raises and a thorough budget. A “big night out” was a Taco Bell family value meal, parking it with the kids in front of the TV and watching Block Buster we got with coupons.
Life kept happening, even though we paid off debt. We kept having setbacks; another baby, health issues, dead cars, etc. Now, though, we don’t have “emergencies”, because we have an emergency fund and we know where every dollar is going, before it is spent.
Anyone can get out of debt, with a little bit of hard work and perseverance. The big thing is, though, that you have to look at yourself in the mirror and be honest. You aren’t in the mess you are in because of some corrupt mortgage company, or crooked car salesman, or evil credit card lender. You got where you are, because of the decisions you made, and that is the only way you are going to get and stay out of it.
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