Dear President Bush,
I just read this article online:
Bush to outline aid to mortgage holders
My wife and I bought a house in 2005, during the boom of what everyone’s calling subprime mortgages. (Maybe we should call them what the are: High-Risk mortgages). In the process of looking for a mortgage, we had lots of great offers like ‘$100/month for a $500,000 loan!’. However, my wife and I actually read through the terms of the offers before getting all excited. In the not-too-fine print, it was very clearly detailed that all of those outstanding offers had adjustable rates. After reading that, we quickly realized that we wanted to take a mortgage with a fixed rate.
Adjustable rates, believe it or not, can adjust. They can go down, or up. A fixed rate does not adjust. If the Fed drops the interest rate, mine stays the same. If the Fed raises the interest rate, mine stays the same. Read my lips: No rate changes. (Sorry… just a little tribute to your Dad).
I’m extremely sick of reading all of the stories about people who say they were conned into their high-risk loans. I don’t know when you last attended a closing, but there is all kind of paperwork that has to be signed. Lawyers have to be present, to outline all of the details. In each of the closings I’ve attended, those details included loan amounts and interest rates. While I’m sure, according to the law of P.T. Barnum, that some people did fall victim to a scam artist or two, I also believe that many of the people who are going into default over their loans had the mental capability to read and do basic math. Those 2 skills are what made us choose a fixed loan, much to the chagrin of people who wanted us to do otherwise. Why, they wondered, would we want to live within our means, instead of stretching ourselves as thin as we possibly could and buying more house than we would need?
I read today that you will be outlining some sort of aid for the people who have stopped paying their loans. I’ve been paying mine for almost 2 years now. When I was in school, smart behavior was rewarded. Less-intelligent behavior was not. Sometimes it was even punished. I’d like to think that by abiding to the terms of my mortgage contract, I’ve exhibited intelligent behavior. So, I’d like know what kind of aid that I will be receiving.
If I am not eligible for any aid, then I would highly suggest that you take the money that would essentially be rewarding people who got themselves into their own situations, and spend it on some more pressing matters. May I suggest fixing our immigration policy, securing our borders, the war in Iraq, or maybe upgrading our aging infrastructure?
Brian McGraw
An extremely disgruntled Supporter.
