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What promises are you talking about? If you're talking about being a "good American shopper" then I blame the criminally high gas prices. It's a cliche scapegoat, I know, but these days it's a totally plausible scapegoat.
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Yeah, but who wanted to have the house in the hills, while the office was in the city? The American shopper. Even with gas prices tripling in the past 3-4 years, you're only talking about changes of $150-$200, which isn't much in comparison to home mortgage. These people would've been cutting it close either way. I say gas prices go highway way - Pigovian Tax FTW!
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Originally Posted by Dakstang Well some of these "loans" were what is called predatory lending.
Lend someone money and lead them to believe there payment will be fixed. After a year or so their payment increases drastically. |
Well, as someone whose family owned a mortgage servicing business (our portion was sold in 2002 to a company in Michigan, which is now out of business!) I know all about predatory lending practices. They're always outlawed, and simply require being reported! It's not even that hard to report them. Most of the predatory lending was with higher interest rates, like in the 12% range. A lot of the issues that the mortgage companies are facing are with ARMs and Interest only loans, which the consumer willingly signed up to do. Idiots. Fixed FTW!
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I am not saying it can't be done. It is just not as easy as it used to be.
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I would agree with that. You can certainly move up. Like Suntan I make more than both my parents, individually, combined they make more. But it does require some sacrifices, which may include relocating, lots of time in the office, and not a very active social life. You can also reap the benefits. My boss, who is probably even more capitalistic than I, was born in Oklahoma, lived in Kansas, Arizona and California. Finally moved to Ohio and is making 200k a year. He's got the BMW, a condo right on the lake - he lives a pretty good life. I'm jealous. But it's a significant difference from his Dad who worked in a factory.