I think it's great when people fight stuff. The Freepers are flying into a public temper tantrum right now because someone fought a foreclosure, because Freepers think banks have unlimited rights. But I think fighting the system is the embodiment of the American spirit.
Just outside Cleveland, a couple found their house foreclosed upon back in 1996. But - unlike most folks, who would just buckle - they fought it. For 11 years, they looked to the law books, and weren't forced out of their home until this year. While the bank fought them tooth and nail, they didn't make any mortgage payments, because the foreclosure was still pending.
The bank launched the foreclosure in 1996 when the couple failed to make their payments. But whose fault is that? The bank was refusing to accept their payments! You can't just foreclose on someone after not accepting their payments.
The homeowners' argument in contesting the foreclosure was that the bank couldn't bring the foreclosure because it didn't legally own the mortgage. But - faced with more foreclosures than at any time in recent memory - more courts are accepting this argument, as banks fail to prove they own the mortgages. The couple also points out that the bank can't back up its claim that they owed late fees that they were once charged. (A bank employee even admitted as much.)
If someone who owns a big house like that isn't safe from being foreclosed upon, imagine what it's like for small homeowners.
The bank was really looking a gift horse in the mouth: Sheriffs have the option of not even enforcing foreclosures at all. One of the basic problems today is that America has moved too far towards corporate-centered policymaking, and it's a trap that encourages people to not fight banks. The legacy of corporatism has led to the increase in foreclosures in several different ways.
Legislators need to limit banks' power to foreclose. If a bank refuses to accept payments, it can't be allowed to use this as an excuse to take someone's home.
(Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119881051300654741.html)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Couple fights foreclosure for 11 years
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That's fine and good until stalling tactics used by those who don't have legitimate fight (i.e. those who can't or don't pay their mortgage) cause banks to become so selective few people without perfect credit histories can obtain home loans at decent rates.
ReplyDeleteBanks are already too selective...
ReplyDeleteBut I know what the response to this story is going to be...Someone is almost certainly going to say "Well this is proof the banks should be more selective."
No...the real reason for the epidemic of forclosures is that everyone is that everyone is losing their money. They must have had money to get the mortgage, but now they don't have the money to pay it.
That is called a decline in the economy.
No, the reason for the foreclosure crisis is the number of subprime mortgage loans. People could afford their mortgages when the interest rate was low, but the problem is they took an adjustable-rate loan because they couldn't afford or couldn't qualify for a standard fixed-rate loan. Now, the rates are resetting and suddenly people find themselves with mortgage payments that are more than they can afford.
ReplyDeleteI know...people could afford them before...but now they can't.
ReplyDeleteThat means the economy is getting worse. Pretty simple.