That should fall under predatory practices- I agree that is unacceptable.

Don’t get me wrong-I would love to see the docs simplified and written so that mere mortals could comprehend them. I also want to see the crooks accountable for what they are doing.

I would prefer to do business with people who understand the contract they have with me- how can I be sure they will perform as agreed if they don’t know what they’ve agreed to? It is in the best interest of lenders and buyers alike to make the whole closing process more comprehensible.

That said-I may have a Master’s degree, but I have to tell you that one of the most sensible folks I’ve talked to was the hot dog man at Home Depot. He was telling me that he and his wife have a smaller, older house- but he resisted all attempts of people to talk him into taking cash out or “moving up.” He and his wife wanted a comfortable retirement, so they are paying their house off early. I’d be surprised if the guy had much in the way of an advanced education- but he was long on common sense.

I don’t know if he understood every word at closing- but he knew not to buy more home than he can afford. I suspect that piece of knowledge will protect you from 90+% of the things that can go wrong at closing.

I guess I view the situation like an auto wreck where one driver was speeding and the other was making an illegal u-turn. Yeah the speeder was guilty- but should he bear all the blame for the accident?

For me, this boils down to the Golden Rule- If someone signs a contract with me, I’d hope they’d do what it took to understand what it was about, or not sign it. I wouldn’t be real sympathetic if the the other party came back and said, “It had too many big words, I didn’t get it, but I wanted your goods or services, so I signed it.”

That just doesn’t seem like a good excuse to me.

disclaimer: I am not a loan officer, mortgage broker, or have any financial or other “ax-to-grind” interest in the mortgage industry.

Here is my three-point plan for addressing the foreclosure situation:

1) The borrower is to blame.
2) It is the borrower’s fault.
3) The problem lies with the borrower.

Waaaah, I was sold a wonky mortgage. Waaah. COME ON, people. Everything in this country is for sale, and everybody knows it. Did, you honestly think, Mr. 2/28, that your $500 monthly payment on that $400,000 mortgage was going to last forever? I contend, with all respect to the senior Senator from New York, that if you don’t have basic math skills, you shouldn’t be privileged enough to own a house. That’s right, home ownership is a privilege, not a right, and if you botched the deal, you don’t deserve your house. Having your mortgage reset isn’t fine print, it’s the first question people should ask their loan officer (who, incidentally, is not your friend, he is in business for himself, DUH). “Am I going to only pay $500 a month for 30 years?” If the answer was yes, litigate or call out the posse. I’m guessing the question was never asked, because you frigging dufuses (dufii?) were tripping all over yourselves at the prospect of “owning” a home. Welcome to America, 2004-style. A mortgage is not ever a lemon-like manufactured product. It is a contract. And the borrower is to blame if he didn’t understand the contract, regardless of the time spent reading the contract.

I yield the remainder of my time back to twist.

The issue here as I see it is when previously agreed upon terms get changed at the last minute or somehow does not get communicated to the borrower. As I said earlier Schumer means well but is late to the game and a little over the top in his patronizing way.

Twist, I must disagree with you on this point. While you and I have advanced degrees, the vast majority of the populace does not. And even within the educated population I would argue that some people haven’t a clue about how to read such documents. That is generally what the professionals are there for. This does not include the RE agent (who works for the seller), unless they are a buyers agent. That is again why you hire an attorney, which was advice i got from a national broadcast radio show I listened to for many years with Bruce Williams on it. He was a general advice guy on legal issues and business issues. Alot of common sense and not so common, I gained listening to him. He was like having a very competent father for advice.

BTW, he used to be a businessman in my hometown and I knew him remotely for his political work as a mayor in one of my neighboring towns. I think he is still on the air. he has a website using his name

And then there are people who are not well versed in written English (immigrants from Albania thru Zambia and all countries in between) so surely they should not be responsible.

Hey Queequeq, why don’t you just list for us those who should be responsible? Is there anyone? Or are we a country of 300 million victims?

This “logic” now must extend to car leases + purchaes, life insurance policies, homeowners policies, auto policies, student loans, credit card documents, bills of lading for deliveries, — where does it end Queequeq?

Yep I wasn’t careful enough. I shouldn’t have gone through with closing when the docs weren’t right. The problem wasn’t my lack of comprehension- it was my lack of care. [By the way, I'm on record as being a reformed idiot- not someone too brilliant to ever make mistakes.]

My attorney should have been more careful- so should I. Ultimately though I came to the conclusion that the signature at the bottom was MINE- it was my responsibility to get it right. I’m not going on national TV to say how I’m a “victim.” I am however, owning up to my mistakes and encouraging others to do the same.

I want to see the crooks prosecuted- but I want to see folks responsible for their actions as well- including me.

no one needs to understand legalese to understand the words “prepayment penalty”, “ARM”, & read through an amortization schedule.

for anyone who doesn’t already understand those terms & doesn’t take the time to ask an attorney at the closing, then there are no laws in the world that can protect them from their own stupidity/greed/etc…

& that’s not self-righteousness. it’s what should be common sense.

& yes, the 3 day recession period is not true for purchases, only refinances.

Great handle, were you inspired by “Ex-American Home Mortgage branch manager going to prison” on the sidebar? Starbuck’s, on me, if you’re ever up my way

Lots of confusion about Schumer in the blogoverse today. Tanta had to come to his defense at Calculated Risk.

Well, this time around the realtors used fiduciary as a sales tactic (NAR’s policy is they aren’t). Next cycle, it’s for real.

But then twist says, “I don’t have to understand all the jargon to understand what I’m signing.”

That’s inconsistent. And you know what? Many, many borrowers trust the mortgage broker to explain the fine print. Mortgage brokers often have titles such as “loan consultant,” “mortgage planner” or “mortgage consultant” on their business cards. It’s unreasonable to believe that no one should be suckered by brokers’ attempts to pass themselves off as borrowers’ fiduciaries. You can yell all day that consumers should understand who brokers work for, but your message won’t get through to everyone.

Then twist admits that she made the mistake of trusting her attorney regarding the name on the deed.

Then twist admits that “a doc changed on me once and I didn’t notice- I won’t do that again.”

So twist has made at least two mistakes at closing — errors that could have been costly; she doesn’t say whether they were or weren’t. In the event of divorce, the first one could have been a big deal.

But twist thinks that other people shouldn’t make errors. She made some mistakes, sure, but she’s not dumb. Other people who make mistakes, they’re dumb, and they deserve all that’s coming to them. That’s the attitude that she conveys, and it’s self-righteous and it stinks.

To top it off, Evinx says, “Everyone who signs a mortgage doc has 3 days to review (or have a lawyer review) it and they can back out.” That’s absolutely untrue for purchase mortgages. Yet Evinx passes himself or herself off as a knowledgable person who has little empathy for people who make mistakes, or who believe things that are untrue.

Self-righteousness is unattractive, y’all.

Remember…the majority of the subprime applicants should of never been in a position to sign loan docs. Lenders, Escrow Officers, and others were lucky they (the applicants) could read the Map Quest directions to the Escrow Office. The web of greed at all levels pushed them through the paper work. This is the crime scene…in the end the Eron type Executives need to be identified and punished.

You are expecting people that go an entire year not reading a book…to read a contract. Last year 25% of Americans read zero books.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3507898

So yes…that is a LOT to ask.
Snark

I complained to my attorney, who said to just sign everything, he’d have his secretary fix it when he got back to the office. It didn’t happen.

I now have a policy of insisting on seeing the docs in advance, reading them through carefully at closing [I had a doc changed on me once and I didn't notice- I won't do that again.]and I won’t arrange my schedule so that the move happens fifteen minutes after closing- I need time to walk away and redo the docs if anything is wrong.

I’m not saying it all should be on the buyer- I’m all for prosecuting predatory lenders and those that use “bait-and-switch” tactics. I’ve talked to people who said they didn’t read their docs at all before they signed them though- then complained when they got shafted- and personal responsibility needs to figure in here somewhere.

For those without net access, an attorney would probably be a good bet, if not a very trusted real estate professional to at least help point you in the right direction so you can ask the questions.

I think a lot of this is “don’t look so it won’t sink in” mentality where you know you’re going into tricky water, but you think that if you hurry up and sign without too much thought it will all just go away and get better.

It’s like buying a car – they get you so used to the “what’s my monthly payment” thinking, that you forget to ask about the actual loan amount..

he is a pathetic joke who wouldn’t get elected dog catcher outside of the northeast and san francisco.

Schumer is a guy who got 1600 on his SATs so he thinks he is smarter than the rest of us + therefore, knows what is in our best interest. He is the typical liberal.

He is the same Schumer who years ago want to regulate cereal prices bcs they “were out of control.” In his mind, there is ALWAYS a role for the govt bcs we regular folks just can’t think for ourselves – certainly not as clearly as he can!

BTW, to NVMike and others, yes, we all may have clicked the “I accept” button w/o reading it — the key point is we are RESPONSIBLE for our actions. Everyone who signs a mortgage doc has 3 days to review (or have a lawyer review) it and they can back out. Furthermore, they can (as I have) insist the docs be forwarded to them in advance for their review. Or, they can just take their sweet time at signing + refuse to sign if they are pushed too hard.

People have to be responsible when they make what for most is the single largest purchase of their life.