Mortgage Crisis

The mortgage crisis has been going on for some time now, and it seems to be getting easier and easier for those inconvenienced by a mortgage payment to get out of it.  I've watched the value of my home plummet, while heaving a sigh of relief that at least we're not upside down.  Most of that is because I've been throwing every spare dime at the loan in order to keep it in the black.

Only now I realize that that very attitude has screwed me.

Did you know that the powers that be have changed the rules so that a short-sale only stays on your credit report for 2 years?  A foreclosure for 5?  Did you know that if you are 30 days late on a payment of any kind, it will stay on your credit report for 7 years, but if you walk away from the largest debt you could possibly have, then that's washed away as if it never happened in 2-5 years?  Really??  What is wrong with this country?

And why am I still making my mortgage payments?  I've been trying to get a better interest rate on my loan for over a year.  I bought my house before the rules changed to make it easier for people to get loans they couldn't afford.  As a result, my interest rate is much higher than it should be.

The government is kindly dropping the interest rates on mortgages for people who can't pay their mortgages, or who simply bought more than they could afford.  They are even cutting the amount that is owed considerably to make it less onerous for people to pay what they agreed to pay when they bought their homes.

But I can't get my loan refinanced because I'm not upside down, but I owe more than 95% of the current value.  My loan is a conventional loan that was not financed by the government, and therefore cannot be easily changed.  And to top it off, I've been making my payments on time, and therefore the banks have no interest in cutting or reducing their profit from someone who is obviously dumb enough to keep giving them money.

I find it equally disturbing that we live in a society that seems to be more than willing to support a government that exists only to prop up big business and the rich people, and reward a lazy, unethical, illiterate population with handouts at the expense of the steady, honorable, responsible citizenry.

I guess that's fine if you fall into either category getting the government bailouts.  And it seems that the responsible citizenry seems to be shrinking in number so as to make their voices immaterial anyway.  It doesn't help that they still cling to a code of honor that assumes that justice will prevail and "those" will get what they deserve in the long run.

It sickens me that in order to get the banks to do the right thing, I have to consider NOT making my payments.  How is that at all reasonable?  I know that there's a hell of a lot that I could do with a year's worth of mortgage payments if I were willing to walk away from this house.