Brother, Can You Spare A Mortgage Payment?

Homeowner Crisis At Record Levels, With 10 Percent At Least A Month Behind On Mortgage

(CBS/AP)  A record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage were either at least a month behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of September, as the source of housing market pressure shifted to the crumbling U.S. economy.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday the percentage of loans at least a month overdue or in foreclosure was up from 9.2 percent in the April-June quarter, and up from 7.3 percent a year earlier.

Distress in the home loan market started about two years ago as increasing numbers of adjustable-rate loans reset to higher interest rates. But the latest wave of delinquencies is coming from the surge in unemployment.

Employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, the Labor Department said Friday.

"Now it's a case of job losses hitting more across the board," Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Meanwhile, the federal government's efforts to jumpstart the economy with financial rescue packages have been mixed at best. Early returns on the bank bailout have shown the taxpayers losing a third of their money - around $9 billion. And automakers still face skepticism on Capitol Hill in their efforts to obtain emergency loans from Congress.

The U.S. tipped into recession last December, a panel of experts declared earlier this week. Since the start of the recession, the economy has lost 1.9 million jobs.

Job losses are already having an impact in rising delinquency rates for traditional 30-year fixed rate loans made to borrowers with strong credit. Total delinquencies on those loans rose to 3.35 percent in September from 3.07 percent at the end of June, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

There were some modest signs of stabilization. The number of loans that entered the foreclosure process totaled 1.07 percent of all loans in the third quarter, flat from the second quarter.

Though that number likely reflects changes in state laws that delay or extend the foreclosure process and efforts to work out or modify loans that could still fall back into foreclosure.

[easeup-2009]

Now''s a great time to refinance. I just signed & am now over a point lower--about $200 a month!

[fornicario]

So, this bailout package is doing what exactly for the American taxpayer? Foreclosures are climbing, unemployment is again on the rise, and Wall Street is still "in trouble". What did we pay this money for exactly?

[musethalia]

Now''''s a great time to refinance. I just signed & am now over a point lower--about $200 a month!

Posted by easeup

us too - same deal

[random_radar]

"Now''''s a great time to refinance. I just signed & am now over a point lower--about $200 a month!

Posted by easeup at 12:56 PM : Dec 05, 2008"

Great! You will now be able to afford the higher taxes to bail everyone else out. I like a responsible team player.

[yaliktono]

This is *** is ridiculus! What about the other 90% of homeowners who are sacrificing to pay their mortgages on time by forgoing meals out, trips, etc. etc. etc. Good old liberal knee jerk reaction - reward those who deserve it least and punish the rest of us by encumbering huge deficits and national debt for our children.

[jack20083]

I had gotten a preforeclosure assignment back in the early 90''s where the borrower was at least two years in the rear. They also gave them time to get the payments caught up at that point but it didn''t workout because couple was getting a divorce and they didn''t want to work to gether to keep the home any longer. Now, the investors can''t wait for their money or dare not to wait for a turn around in the market either. Back then, the investors were different,seasoned, and long term. Well, what I am trying to say, the investors weren''t all about me theme and greed. There was risk but not craziness. Value and growth will return one day, and I don''t have a problem with giving a homeowner time and space to keep their home as long as if this will be their final home purchase. I don''t agree to help them now for them to make a profit ten years from now. If any profit has to be given, it should be give back to the tax payer if this is how they are going to assist the homeowner.

[allzwell]

I think we need a little moratorium from getting hammered into the ground every month. So what if the rich don''t get richer, they keep us on the books as an asset who''ll more than likely rebound eventually and it better off for them... eventually. Meanwhile, I''m 2G behind the 8 ball in paying the bills for each of the last 2 months and reaching into my meager savings to make up the deficit. Fvck ''em all... send your mortgage company 100 bucks a month good faith payment until they get this mess straightened out and we can start the clock ticking again. Disclaimer: Don''t do this! It''s just a wild idea... or is it?

[hrsmith3]

Wall Street, banks, Congress, and government regulators are responsible for this mess. The whole lot of them is not worth a plug nickle. My husband and I have been homeowners for ten years with a reasonable 5 3/8th 30 year fixed rate qualifying at ratios far below what we could afford; however, we may lose our home. My husband lost his job a few months ago and cannot find another. In addition, we paid our credit card late, and the unethical bank jacked the rate up to 29% and added in enormous late fees which we can never pay. That used to be called usury. Whatever happened to usury laws? Actually, I think the mortgage mess may have opened a can of financial worms for the greedy financial heirachy. Now, perhaps we can clearly see all their creative shafts. This bunch of crooks is bad to the core and needs to be held accountable.

[hrsmith3]

Many are responsible for this mortgage crisis, but certainly the banks, Wall Street, and Congress are the chief culprits. Nothing will improve until this mortgage havoc is fully addressed. We stand a chance of losing our home due to my husband''s job loss, and it will only get worse until something is done for regular Americans. While we are investigating the mortage crisis, we should also look into why banks can charge 30% interest on credit cards, plus late fees - didn''t that used to be usury?

[fredflinsto2]

People think more about the price of a gallon of gas than they do the terms of their mortgages. That is a big part of the problem, lack of thought. Those are the same people who deserve whatever they get, or in this case, lose

[edintex]

hrsmith3:
Sorry about your unfortunate situation. Many of us have lost our jobs in the past. It was just the way the cards were dealed to us. We blamed nobody else. The government is NOT responsible for keeping me employed. I AM. No time to cry about it. We quickly moved to where I was able to find work and started over again. You should stop whining, pull up your britches and do the same. Or you can become one of those Obamination people and wait for your money since you are "entitled" to it.

Go ahead and hold your breath!!!

[chetekern]

We need to clone Suzy Orman a million times, send the clones out into the masses and let some budget corrections act on saving some homes/buyers from foreclosures. Simultaneously, we need to reset all credit rates back to 2000 levels to get some sanity in that business. The rules should be 2 credit/debit cards per family to get back to a "pay as you go" mentality.

[chetekern]

We need to clone Suzy Orman a million times, send the clones out into the masses and let some budget corrections act on saving some homes/buyers from foreclosures. Simultaneously, we need to reset all credit rates back to 2000 levels to get some sanity in that business. The rules should be 2 credit/debit cards per family to get back to a "pay as you go" mentality.

[bb543]

"Interesting to watch"

I don''t where you live, SockintheMouth4, but you
can''t be in much better shape, unless you''re running
an online porn site (likely). Have a little more
compassion for those in trouble. You may be next.

[whitemale08]

Wait till all of these people catch up with reality and realize that they are ''upside-down'' on their mortgages.

Once that happens then home fore-closures will explode even more where probably half of all home owners will lose their homes.

This is more then just the Bush/Hannity/Limbaugh-Depression, this is the ''breakdown crisis''.

[VegasResident]

Wait till all of these people catch up with reality and realize that they are ''''upside-down'''' on their mortgages.

Once that happens then home fore-closures will explode even more where probably half of all home owners will lose their homes.

___________________________________________

oddly you are assuming we have not figured that out yet? 50% of all homes in Las Vegas are underwater. It has been in the news for well over 1/2 a year.

[stevador39]

This financial crisis is not and accident. It is an attack on the people of this nation by the wealthy. President Jimmy Carter took rights away from Americans to hand out privileges to foreigners. Clinton with NAFTA and GATT sent millions of jobs abroad and continue importing foreign job seekers. Bush is a traitor and should be impeached for his crimes. When in the last 30 years has this government acted in the interest of this nation and its citizens?

[babooph]

The propaganda system stopped showing pix of the endless tent city Bushvilles popping up all over !!

[element51]

edintex....As one of those hated "libs" I can assure you that I have no desire to try to tell you how to live. Actually my hope is that you are doing well and will continue to do so. I know that you feel intense hatred toward me and my family because we are on the other side of the political spectrum but the truth is that we are all in the same boat and if we go down we will all go down. Why not try to see us in a different light? As fellow Americans who love our country just as much as you do. We have worked hard for 40 years to prepare for our retirement and even though we are "libs" we do not expect anything to be handed to us. We don''t waste time whining or slinging insults at you. We do what we have to do to get by. Maybe if you tried a little compassion instead of concentrating on hating us you would find that we aren''t such bad guys after all.

[whitemale08]

shady or low credit, by offering them mortgages at a low, variable interest rate. Millions of minorities and other Americans began to default on their mortgage payments, the interest rates and fees went up, and the home went into foreclosure.


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Posted by dan_8951 at 01:15 AM : Dec 06, 2008--

You must be avoiding the Bushvilles full of ''white-folks'' living in tents some even former celebrities in California.

But heres a chance to see for yourself....

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=bushvilles&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

[rcornwell48]

Nothing is being done to help the average homeowner to survive. We are throwing money at a problem to make is go away and we might as well burn the money for heat. Stop bailing out those ******* corporation that through greed and more greed got us into this mess. We need to bailout the people not the institutions. The people will fix the economy not the greedy companys. Obama needs to focus on the people we are the ones that elected him for us not for them. I propose a 100 Year Mortage Program backed by the goverment to be instituted immediately as the first honest attempt in helping the people. Let the big 3 go into bankruptcy and restructure, stay out of their affairs, they are greedy people trying to save their own *** and bonuses. Wake up America it''s your money don''t let the goverment throw it away. People first. Remember these same corporationb took American jobs and outsourced them to foreien countries have them goto those countries and beg for money. How quickly we forget and stop the scare tactics it make me want to puke we will survive with them or without them.

[gertch1951]

Brother, Can You Spare A Mortgage Payment?

"No...but our politicians can!!!!"