[quote=briansd1]I believe in living by the letter of contracts.
But I don’t believe in being destructive, especially when being destructive does not bring any benefit to me.
For example, when I leave my hotel room, I turn off all the lights and the A/C. I don’t believe in being destructive and causing other people to lose money when there’s no benefit to anyone.
Now, living for free in the house as long a possible and stringing along the bank would be very beneficial to the homeowner. That, I would recommend. The bank took the risk, they always knew that default was a possibility. And they can always exercise their right to foreclose promptly.
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And this is why so many of us were warning about moral hazard in the pre-bailout days.
By bailing out anyone who is underwater or took on more debt than they could afford, the govt absolutely opened up the box for everyone else to demand a bailout, too. The home “owners” have the banks over a barrel, and they’re seizing this rare opportunity to collectively make demands (principal reductions, forebearance, interest rate reductions, etc.) that they wouldn’t normally be able to make.
I fault the govt 100% for the mess they’ve created. What they should have done is stand behind the original FDIC and SIPC insurance, and let the chips fall where they may. Since they’re bailing out the fat cats, they will be forced to bail out everyone below them, too.
Though we’ve always paid all of our bills on time (or sooner), and never stolen from anybody, I’d feel like a chump if we were paying the original terms of our mortgage. Unfortunately, we rent, so we don’t get any freebies. See..only renters get evicted if they don’t pay.
