Letters to the Editor
-
Foolish choices?
It's rather a trite response to say "well, if THEY made foolish choices, a pox upon them..." or words to that effect. It's simply not that simple.
In point of fact, having been through a number of sales and refinances in the time period, when every so-called professional involved in the transaction-- real estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks-- all tell you what a great deal you're getting, you tend to believe them.
Researching the arcane points of mortgage financing is difficult and confusing, to say the least. Purposely so, I believe, as the various participants in the lending process directly benefited from keeping the mechanics of the process hard for the average Joe to fully comprehend.
I was lucky, as I have a legal background and relations in the real estate business, so I had access to more information and explanations than most. Even so, I got burned once myself with a Countrywide loan product, but that's a whole other tale...
Foolish choices may have been made by some, but I venture to guess that many, many more were inveigled into their decisions with the wilful encouragement of their salesperson, their brokers and their bankers. And, in point of fact, with the encouragement of the Chairman of the Fed...