On Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:31:27 +0000 (UTC), Tegger wrote:

harry wrote in news:da79305b-4d70-45fc-a7f8-
:

On Dec 22, 2:12*pm, Home Guy wrote:
harry used improper usenet form when he unnecessarily full-quoted:

So, what happens if you can't pay your mortgage? It sounds to me
that the borrower is worse off than in the UK or Canada?

You sell your house. *What's what happens.

What happens if your house is worth substantially less than the money
you owe?


In most of the US, you walk away from it and incur no penalty other than
forfeiting what little equity you might have. That's a consequence of law.

That's a lie. Under any foreclosure (and handing the keys in to the bank is a
foreclosure) the borrower is *still* responsible for the entire loan, unless
discharged in a bankruptcy (which is difficult to do).

In the UK, you have to pay it back.


In Canada, you are legally obligated to pay the dollar-amount owing,
whether you walk away or not.

The US is no different.

If you hand over the keys, the
bank sells your house, probably for even less than that. You still owe
them the difference.



Not in the US. In the US, government entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and
FHA eat the difference, not the banks or the ostensible homeowner. That too
is a consequence of law. The law was specifically and particularly designed
to insulate banks from risk of borrower default, so that banks would be
more willing to lend to deadbeats.

Not true. The bank gets it money, but the borrower is still on the hook for
the money.

People end up bankrupt. Still, they can't go in
for any more foolish loans.



Congress and the executive branch feverishly and maniacally continue to
push the public into real-estate debt, as though 2008 never happened.
Unreal.

Nonsense.

One day, perhaps centuries hence, history will look upon the modern debt-
fetish the way we now regard Mayan human-sacrifices.

Clueless.