are you socializing your debt when it is a private bank?
random thoughts Send a noteboard - 13/10/2010 03:14:48 PM
Morality has sod all to do with it. If you're negative equitied to the hilt and you can pay your monthly mortgage, there is no argument. You owe the money and you may not gleefully socialise your debt. If you lose your job and can't make the payment until you find another, the bank's best interest here is to bear with you for a little while. If you took out a massive mortgage based on nonsense unsustainable earnings and then lose your job, you're an idiot and you will lose your house, and you will owe them the difference between the sale price and the mortgage amount.
I have very little sympathy for financial morons who push their debt on my tax bill, or my interest rate. Has nobody ever heard of moral hazard? They'll just do it again.
When you talk about financial morons who pushed their debt on your tax bill are you talking about the banks because they would fit that description? The banks gleefully socialized their bad investments. The banks charge a fee for the risk they are taking on why should the individual feel obligated to absorb all the loss while still paying that risk fee to the bank?
If enough people fail to pay their mortgage the bank will fail it is only because we have allowed banks to grow so large that the economy can not survive them failing that we have to socialize that debt. If not we could just allow the banks to fail do to their poor lending practices. Why do we expect the individuals in the worst hit areas to simply buck up and take one for the team out of some sense of social moral obligation? We don't seem to expect banks to behave in moral fashion, simply a legal one, but we expect individuals to even though they are paying an extremely high price for those morals and we are willing to help shoulder that cost.
I see a lot of people blaming the home owner for an idiot when they bought their house but that really is simply us rationalizing an unsympathetic attitude towards these people. I see a lot people talking about speculators or people buying homes that they could in no way afford but what about the guy who simply lived it the area and need a house? He bought a house he could afford and now it is worth 60% of what he paid for it. He should just be a good little citizen and take the hit all by himself? He isn’t legally required to so why should he be morally required to?
Is walking away from a mortgage immoral?
12/10/2010 04:45:43 PM
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Just as a contract is a two way street -
12/10/2010 05:12:09 PM
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Of course it's immoral.
12/10/2010 05:13:16 PM
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But does one sided morality work?
12/10/2010 05:38:56 PM
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You asked about the morality of walking away when the borrower still has the ability to pay.
12/10/2010 07:31:10 PM
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A company or organization cannot act morally or immorally? I strongly disagree. *NM*
12/10/2010 07:50:42 PM
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No, it cannot. However the individuals making the decisions for the company can. *NM*
12/10/2010 08:48:23 PM
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If banks can not behave in moral manner why should people be expected to behave in moral manner?
12/10/2010 08:07:56 PM
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I'm not absolved of my obligations based on the bad behaviors of others.
12/10/2010 08:25:33 PM
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Because it's their moral obligation. Morality is not a trade, you act morally because it is right
12/10/2010 08:47:41 PM
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That's the only kind of morality there is! What the hell is wrong with you?
12/10/2010 08:15:55 PM
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nothing wrong with me but I think you are off your meds again
12/10/2010 09:34:33 PM
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Re: nothing wrong with me but I think you are off your meds again
15/10/2010 02:50:49 PM
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well I really can't argue with the wrong is wrong end of story belief system
15/10/2010 05:40:22 PM
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A contract isn't a promise; it's a legal agreement. *NM*
12/10/2010 06:25:24 PM
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Which is why contracts have to be pages and pages long and combed over by bloodsucking lawyers.
12/10/2010 06:39:18 PM
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I would agree with you if contracts didn't provide for breaking them.
12/10/2010 07:33:15 PM
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Hrm.
12/10/2010 07:35:38 PM
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did you take a personal oath in front of god and your loved ones to pay the loan back? *NM*
12/10/2010 08:09:07 PM
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Let's assume we're talking about a marriage where no such oath was taken... *NM*
12/10/2010 08:10:54 PM
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if there is no oath of fidelity then straying would not be immoral *NM*
12/10/2010 08:40:53 PM
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It's not immoral to break the marriage contract.
12/10/2010 08:19:50 PM
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That must be why they have you sign something called an agreementory note *NM*
12/10/2010 07:33:32 PM
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I don't think it's immoral at all. The contract usually specifies penalties for breach.
12/10/2010 05:28:34 PM
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You didn't mention the third party
12/10/2010 08:26:56 PM
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in a way I did since I did mention society
12/10/2010 08:54:07 PM
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What if you look at it from the other perspective?
12/10/2010 09:00:20 PM
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Sure, you could do that.
13/10/2010 01:54:55 AM
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The problem is that you're buying something today and paying for it for the next 15/30/50 years.
13/10/2010 03:04:26 PM
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As a professional in financial services - no, it is not.
13/10/2010 01:44:18 AM
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but almost nobody sees it that way
13/10/2010 12:53:25 PM
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Is the deal that if you default, the bank gets the house and nothing else, though?
13/10/2010 02:40:48 PM
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I think it's morally wrong to walk away from credit card debt. *NM*
13/10/2010 09:43:11 PM
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I agree, what do you think is different?
13/10/2010 09:59:36 PM
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The difference is that the bank owns the house. Whereas when I buy stuff, it's mine. *NM*
19/10/2010 07:05:34 PM
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I too am unable to work out what distinguishes the two situations.
13/10/2010 11:54:15 PM
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I lost sleep over it, but I did it anyway.
13/10/2010 05:24:19 AM
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Obviously, the essential difference is can't pay versus won't pay.
13/10/2010 02:16:07 PM
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are you socializing your debt when it is a private bank?
13/10/2010 03:14:48 PM
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You are when said bank requires a bailout. And very many of them do.
13/10/2010 03:22:59 PM
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I really don't understand a system where this could be an advantage.
13/10/2010 11:16:57 PM
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There's generally something like a 7 or 10 year limit on credit reporting here.
13/10/2010 11:46:58 PM
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What's the use of suing someone who has no money? *NM*
13/10/2010 11:48:47 PM
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You can garnish their wages.
13/10/2010 11:49:36 PM
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With parsley?
13/10/2010 11:51:37 PM
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No, "someone" most certainly did not, wicked young Miss! Hmph! *NM*
13/10/2010 11:52:40 PM
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If they suddenly come into some, you're entitled to it. *NM*
14/10/2010 12:07:34 AM
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Bit of a long shot. *NM*
14/10/2010 12:09:12 AM
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Very. Best to cover your bases though. *NM*
14/10/2010 10:04:25 PM
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Not if the doctrine of election applies.
14/10/2010 10:14:07 PM
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Are we not talking about credit companies going after people who owe them money?
14/10/2010 10:18:47 PM
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I am currently in that situation...
14/10/2010 05:03:23 AM
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In Washington you can contest the assessed value used to determine property taxes.
14/10/2010 07:27:02 AM
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it is easy for me and others to be glib when it is just a theory *NM*
14/10/2010 08:19:16 PM
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If you have the ability to pay, I would consider it yet another immoral act in an immoral industry.
14/10/2010 07:49:38 AM
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