Homeowners stuck as lenders cinch standards

Experts say there's plenty of blame to go around. During the real estate boom, lenders began offering an array of loans to borrowers with poor credit histories. They let many borrowers finance 100% of the purchase price, often asking for little or no proof of income or assets. Last year, 43% of loans required little or no documentation of the borrower's finances, according to First American LoanPerformance. These "stated-income" loans have earned the ... Full Story »

Posted by David Patterson
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Subjects: U.S., Business
Topics: U.S. Economy
Member Tags: mortgage bubble, lending, banking
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Mike LaBonte
4.6
by Mike LaBonte - Oct. 1, 2008

Describes trends and backs it up with numbers. Covers mostly lender practices, but also some homeowner fraud. Surprisingly, does not discuss the national homeownership rate.

See Full Review » (11 answers)
Lisa Flay
4.1
by Lisa Flay - Oct. 1, 2008

The author did cover this story well. I didn't understand these loans when speaking with a lender, but now I feel I now understand these loans a little bit more. The only thing I haven't heard with regards to this story is how it resembles the international monetary fund practice of lending money to countries that they know they will not be able to pay off and then swooping in and taking all assets.

See Full Review » (13 answers)
Kyle Klipowicz
4.4
by Kyle Klipowicz - Oct. 1, 2008

Another prime example at how our society of debt is slowly draining away the middle class. People are constantly being taken advantage of by complex legal documents that bind them to agreements that they are not well-informed to comprehend.

See Full Review » (7 answers)
David Patterson
4.0
by David Patterson - Oct. 1, 2008

I don't know. I see a story not getting told about speculators driving up and manipulating Real Estate values and then Lenders manipulating unqualified borrorwers into loans that they couldn't pay. One could ask, "What's up with that?"

See Full Review » (2 answers)

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