dtwoleftfeet 02:51:07 PM Dec 18 2007

You may be an economic moron if:::::

You have a mortgage with a beginning 2 year 'teaser ' rate or an 'interest only' payment plan and you dont know what the new rate will be when it 'adjusts'.

dtwoleftfeet 02:43:55 PM Dec 18 2007

These 'proposals' sound like the rules the more dependable lenders are already practicing. Imagine the nerve of a lender to demand you prove your income level and other assets before they will lend you a considerable amount of money?????Who do they think they are????businessmen?????

am75pm 12:11:00 PM Dec 18 2007

Not much of a fix. It sounds like the rules I had to abide by when I bought my house in 76. They would not sell me the house unless I had job security and were convinced I had the ability to pay. It the prices of houses go down(remember they are tar paper and wood) it will allow young adults an opportunity to buy without feeling the stress of an insurmountable debt.

marktwin2 11:53:41 AM Dec 18 2007

Over six precent used to be concidered usary and illegal, Loan organisations should be required to write off all money gotten at over six percent as paid on the principal on the mortgage. All fees charged the borrowers should be instead charged to the lender as it is their overhead and not a service to the borrower..

abnormton 11:52:35 AM Dec 18 2007

david, you're kidding right? THe brain dead financial people created this mess of sub prime loans with no thought of losing their asses when it collapses. This isn't bailing out the borrowers, simple prolonging the agony. Its giving a handout to the crooked mortagae industry to liduidate its massive losses that are looming. THey know they're going to get stuck with homes that are overvalued and will eat s*** and die.

dccwest 11:37:56 AM Dec 18 2007

Most borrowers don't qualify for a mortgage because the price of homes is too high. The "Fixes" our lawmakers are discussing will make it more difficult to qualify, which means home prices will decline.

davidl7082 11:27:00 AM Dec 18 2007

The Democrats were looking for votes from minorities, illegal aliens and losers in general, even though it makes no sense to give someone a mortgage that he or she hasn't got a prayer at paying back. The plan has backfired and now the government is trying to cover their collective asses. If they get too many minorities, illegal aliens and others pissed-off it will make it damn near impossible to get the lying weasel Hillary and her Willie back into the White House.

tishyliz06 11:26:13 AM Dec 18 2007

The whole darm mess could have been avioded had they let the people who had these sub prime ARM's lock in at the lower rate once the Interest rates started to go up. But because these people could not re finance to a fixed rate before 2 years were up on there loans, most of them defauletd. STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They should have let them lock in witha loan at a fixed rate and let that company pay the current loan untill the 2 year mark was up and add the extra amount to the fixed loan amount either by longer terms or a higher value of the home which would have kept going up untill this meltdown. Now LOTS AND LOTS of people are involved and affected. GREED The root of all evil !! STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

davidl7082 11:24:00 AM Dec 18 2007

I have a solution to the problem Loans under $150,000 get an interest rate of 15% per year. Loans over $1,000,000 get an interest rate of 2% per year, anything in between gets 8.5%. We certainly need to take care of the people with large homes and even larger mortgages and why worry about people that want to buy modest homes.

sfreedomsoul 11:21:49 AM Dec 18 2007

What a Joke. Before 2002 these were the rules already. After 2002 the fed lowered interest rates and ordered the banks to lend to anyone who walked in the door in order to prop up the failing numbers on wall street. Such a farce.