Bankruptcy

Are Mortgage Lender?s to Blame For Increasing Bankruptcy Filings?

By rwaple

There?s been a lot of talk lately about how bankruptcy filings are increasing again, after a short period of stagnation due to more stringent bankruptcy filing laws.  I?m sure there are a myriad of reasons for this happening.  I?ve heard some pundits call it the perfect storm!  I can?t help thinking to myself though, that one of the large causes of the current crisis in the US mortgage industry is the mortgage lenders themselves.  I chuckle to myself when I think of the hole large financial institutions find themselves in now, and the explanations they come up with trying to explain what happened.  I don?t have much sympathy for executives who make risky decisions, live high on the hog for a few years, and then suddenly can?t understand why they are being asked to resign their position from the board.  The fact of the matter is that these decisions by predatory lenders to engage eager buyers in risky mortgages, to make a buck and accelerate growth numbers have led to a record number of foreclosures the past few months.  These foreclosures are more than numbers for the CNBC anchor?s and Bloomberg experts to chat about 24/7; these foreclosures are real people?s lives being turned upside down because mortgage lenders went nuts with greed for a few years.  A few years ago when the housing market was booming with low interest rates and other various sub-prime deals du jour, all you could see on T.V. was stories about how it was the best time ever to buy a new house, or flip that condo you just bought.  The onslaught of infomercials hocking videotapes teaching you how to scour the classifieds and buy cheap houses, then go on to sell them for a quick profit was intense.  There were dozens of them.  And I guess these schemes worked for a few years too.  Now they?re not working and people are feeling the pain.  The pain translates into higher bankruptcy filings to deal with the mounting crisis.  Talk to an attorney if foreclosure has pushed you to the brink, they?ll be able to guide you in the right direction, more so than you can say about you lenders.

-DPearlman 

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Full post as published by BKHQ Bankruptcy Blog on November 29, 2007 (boomark / email).