Rep. Fludd suggests that help is available for many homeowners who are experiencing mortgage payment difficulties and that these homeowners should avail themselves of that help by taking action early.

I agree entirely with him.

One of the frustrations of serving as a lawyer is having to contact someone who owes money to your client and finding that the debtor does not respond. If people don’t respond, you don’t have any choice but to sue them. If they’d talk with you, you could perhaps work out something, but dead silence is rude and counter-productive.

Killing the goose that laid the golden eggs may be what some people will accomplish by carelessly denouncing lenders as predatory. Many lenders have been encouraged and gone out of their way to try to extend loans to people who have historically been discriminated against. If someone is called a vulture for trying to help the poor, he’s not going to try to help the poor anymore.

Statistically speaking, there will always be some defaults on loans. That’s part of the business. The interest rate level tends to reflect the level of the risk. Some defaults are caused by honorable reasons, such as ill health.

Some defaulting borrowers are accused of not having read or understood their loan agreements. I am going to tell you the ugly truth: a lot of these agreements are not intended to be read or understood. They are composed by heartless distant anonymous lawyers in response to a slew of complex laws poised to entrap their clients in technical violations.

These agreements get printed into extraordinarily lengthy forms which people are asked to sign without reading. Everybody does it, including HVAC, cable and phone repairmen and car dealers. They say “sign here,” and if even only 10% of the people stopped them and said, “Wait, I’ve got to read what you’re asking me to sign,” the wheels of commerce would grind to a halt. It’s become hypocritical to blame people for not reading and understanding what they sign. The whole legal game on forms is a sham, and it’d be nice to encounter judges who realize it.

But I digress. Rep. Fludd gave excellent advice.

There are 2 things that are very obvious. First, the local governments need to put a MORATORIUM on any new building untill the glutt of avalible houses are sold. They owe it to the taxpayers who have their houses on the market and have supported the local governments [by paying their taxes] for years. These people who can't afford their houses, can't sell them either because there are thousands sitting on the market. It seems the local governments help their developer buddies first and foremost. You have only to look at Tyrone. An ex town planning counsil member turned developer. He was never turned down for anything untill recently. We now have a subdivision with a community septic tank, it is really a gass on windy days. The developer has sold all, and off the hook. Another of his subdivisions next to it is in foreclosure now. He sold it to builder and walked away. On Palmeto road you will see a bunch empty buildings the same developer bought. The local tax paying companies that were there are gone, but he hasn't got any new ones to take their place.
Second, federal government, is letting the banks take advantage of people who have less than perfect credit. These are not good will loans. The penalities and interest on them are unreasonable for someone with good credit, much less someone with out. The whole thing is designed to fail. But the banks get theirs, at the taxpayers expense. In other words, Virgil, you the government, are letting them screw the little people and asking the rest of us taxpayers pay for this set up. Don't play innocent! The kind of mess the lenders are doing should be against the law. It is preditory lending at its best!

Representative Fludd letter to the editor doesn't even address personal responsibility that might prevent people from purchasing a home that they cannot afford. The lenders are partly to blame, however the person that signs on the dotted line has ultimate responsibility to ensure that they know what they are getting themselves into. "Most importantly" take personal responsibility for your actions, and don't go looking for a government program to bail you out. All that amounts to is a transfer of wealth from responsible individuals to irresponsible individuals.
Liberals like Fludd don't like to talk about personal responsiblity and look at ways to prevent people from getting into financial difficulty to begin with. No, they would rather look for another government program, because thats what socialism is all about.

The Beav