Anyone who tapped into their equity over the past few years- with the thought that their homes were actually worth what the previous market stated- are gonna be in a world of hurt right now. You're in upside-down on your house, which is the average American's main asset. You now owe more than your house is worth, and God help you if you're on an ARM, or have a balloon payment coming up. (There will be no borrowing on the equity to meet that payment). California is probably going to be hit especially hard- this is where Morri can step in and offer her expertise, as I am not as familiar with that market. Construction is way down, which means a lot of people are going to be out of work, etc. It's a domino effect- sooner or later it will hit pretty much everyone in the pocketbook.

Credit card companies are already starting to reduce limits and re-evaluate credit and risk profiles.

But yes, the vast majority of people will oppose government bailouts up until the moment they are personally and directly benefiting from said bailout (be it through direct assistance with their mortgage or saving their employer from Chapter 11).

My hope is that during the whole Wamu/JPMorgan switchover, my file will get lost and the balance on my Wamu credit card will disappear.

One can hope, can't she?

GC- It could happen! WaMu lost three deposits I made in less than two months- they kept giving the money to other people. They tend to hire really young, inexperienced (can you say 'cheaper'?) help, so I learned to be vigilant when dealing with them. I finally gave up and went Credit Union about six years ago.:rolleyes:

AMEX lowered the limit on a card that I had $0 balance on and hadn't touched in 3 years. Can't say I blame them, but I went ahead and closed the account.

I am a member of 2 Credit Unions back home in Hawai'i. I think I'll dust one of those off and open a checking.

Something just occurred to me. This forum is members only, right?

Just wanted to confirm since otherwise I need to do a better job of filtering myself.

Alex,

I think only Parking LoT is members only.

Yup. I just logged out and can still see this forum.

No, this forum is readable by non-registered/not-logged in users.


(ETA: That's "no" to Alex's post, not "no" to BTD's post, who is correct)

How many foreclosures could be averted if the government, instead of bailing out the banks, just told them to suck it up and retroactively re-set the last 5 years' or so worth of ARMs to their original interest rate (or that date's comparable fixed interest rate)? That would help keep homeowners with loans that have accelerated out of control (and nobody's asking the Fed about how fast they raised interest rates? Why?) from going into foreclosure, as long as they were able to make their original payment schedules.

Wouldn't that be a better answer than the government purchasing the loans and getting into a business it so clearly doesn't understand?