Taking responsibility
Jeff’s got an interesting post on the “Not my fault” syndrome - people who blame the credit card companies for their debt problems. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of reasons that you could talk about, which contribute to a state of financial sickness :
My employer doesn’t pay me enough.
The price of gas has gone up.
I saw this bargain on offer …
And so on.
But there’s the other kind, too - the one’s who fail to do their due diligence. And end up paying through the nose.
Like these ARM buyers. Now their ARM costs them a leg, too.
What’s that old saying about a fool and his money?
Written by 2cworth on September 14th, 2006 with
1 comment.
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#1. September 14th, 2006, at 4:44 PM.
Can’t agree with you more on the “Not My Fault” syndrome…but with respect to ARMs, I have to comment. I am a mortgage broker, and deal with folks on a regular basis who won’t touch ARMs with a ten foot pole. And why? Because they are underinformed. ARMs are demonized in the media, torn apart in the blogosphere, and hated by the individuals who took them for the wrong reasons. And I think it is a shame, because adjustable rate mortgages can be a really useful tool.
There are circumstances where adjustable rate mortgages simply make the most sense. If you do not plan to own your home (or go without refinancing your current mortgage) for 30 years, then why take a 30 year mortgage with higher rates? If you intend to sell in, say, 7 years - then it makes perfect sense to take out an adjustable rate mortgage that is fixed for the first 7 or 10 years, at a lower rate than a comparable 30 year fixed.
Now, using an adjustable rate mortgage to buy a house that you just can’t afford….well, that is just a bad idea.