QUOTE(johnq @ Apr 9 2007, 08:14 AM)
Whirlwind, there is a vast amount of information available on loans these days, and not just from the institutions. It's up to people to do their homework. Blaming others when things go badly has become a way of life in this country, an IMO that attitude contributes more to our problems than many other things do.
Until every school requires financial education and this type of practical math, I really can't blame people for "not doing their homework." A lot of people getting into their first house don't understand all of the variables they even NEED to do homework on. I'm pretty good at this type of math/research, but I know I've had to explain to coworkers, boyfriend, etc. which variables they need to check into (are you paying PMI? Downpayment, Escrow, etc, etc.). And the only reason I knew this information is because the real estate agent on my first house was very patient in explaining everything (and luckily very honest). It's just not that easy if you don't have someone you can trust to explain these things to you and/or if you don't have the math background to crunch all of the numbers....
And let's face it, these mortgage companies are approving loans at levels people CANNOT afford. If I spent as much as the bank said I could afford on my first house, I would have been eating Ramen noodles by month 3, probably without utilities by month 7, and defaulting on the loan by month 12. Luckily I was able to figure that out and purposefuly bought a house where I could rent out some rooms to make some extra income, but there's no way in hell I could have afforded that much on my own and the mortgage company knew it.
