
The American Nightmare: Subprime Mortgage Crisis, 10 Years Later - axiomdata316
https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/subprime-mortgage-crisis/
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gedy
From my experience with friends and family during this time, the "nightmare"
is largely due to people feeling "This is _my_ home!", when is really not -
they were highly leveraged and it belongs to their debtors. They
couldn't/wouldn't grasp the idea that borrowing so much money means they lose
something if they don't/can't pay up.

I sympathise that losing a home must be terrible, but many people I knew
marched right into interest only loans, second mortgages, because they wanted
nicer place or stuff.

At least in my circles, warning/begging people not to borrow so much fell on
deaf ears during this time. The article portrays this as the lenders issue,
but it goes both ways.

~~~
bradbatt
"Banks didn’t verify borrowers’ occupations or incomes. They qualified people
for bigger loans than they could afford. They offered loans with monthly
payments so low that borrowers owed more after they made a payment, rather
than less."

This is part of the problem though. Banks and other lenders should be held
responsible for handing out these loans. The onus cannot just be on the
homeowners. For every person that simply wanted nicer stuff there are plenty
who were fooled into thinking they could afford something that they couldn't.

~~~
gedy
Yes, but my point is the majority of people I knew weren't "fooled" or
"uneducated", they took it because it was what they wanted in spite of the
danger and warnings. Banks certainly have a ton of responsibility for this,
but I'm also not swayed but the slow-fade sob stories that people were "taken
advantage of" by the banks either.

