I remember, not too long ago, how Glenn Beck dissected President’s Obama’s state of the union address. And true to Mr. Beck’s form, it was what everyone expected Glenn to do and he did it so very well and with lots of pictures, graphics and timelines. It was so well presented that a 5 year old would have understood it.
I received an economic lesson from Mr. Beck on that day and let me tell you, it brought back memories of an incident back in 2003 and I was RIGHT-ON back then. I was told by a lending company in Miramar Florida that based on my husband’s and my credit score, we did not need to have an income to qualify for a mortgage loan. I was so flabbergasted by the statement that I felt I needed to become my own loan officer and make sure, for my financial health, if I truly could afford to get into this home. After crunching my numbers, I then argued with this loan officer but she was too giddy with excitement. She was trying to convince me that my credit score afforded me an opportunity of a lifetime. I got such a bad feeling with this revelation that the full impact from a speech given by President Bush came to mind. The speech outlined how he was going to implement a program that will give all Americans an opportunity of the American dream, owning a home. What no one knew was that in order for this to happen, there had to be a lifting of certain checks and balances where under normal circumstances, would have red flagged certain applicants. The bankers were given the green light to package ‘creative financing’ for applicants with less than desirable credit. In most instances, the applicants were not fully aware of what ‘creative financing’ really meant to their bottom line. When this loosening of restrictions became rampant so did the rising of home prices, and the greed, and then the bubble and here we sit.
In conclusion, my husband and I lost money in that deal because we backed out, our common sense radar kicked in. We knew that the lenders were not looking out for us, only themselves, their bottom lines. After walking away from the deal, I made a comment to my husband in the car that this does not look good for the future of this country. I wrote about my experience and sent out letters to the Miami Herald, and CNN.com because I felt such a sense of responsibility in trying to stop this runaway train. But it seemed the ball wrecker was in motion and no one wanted to stop it or be the bad guy in calling attention to it. No one wanted to get off the easy money train!!
I never like to say, ‘I told you so’ but I TOLD YOU SO!!!
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