Bailout Voting

[fltoo]

I emailed my Rep and called my Senator and asked what his intentions were. I also said if he votes yes.. He will not get my vote.

In my email to my Rep.. I asked him to throw in some pork for his constituents. I also asked him to let judges modify mortgages for people who were paying mortgages at their previous interest rate. Although I didn't fall for the adj.. rates.. I believe need a second chance rather than being thrown out on the street. I also asked that the institutions be held to the standards for bankruptcy that they so diligently lobbied for.

Remember.. www.house.gov and www.senate.gov... Lets see if we can actually crash the house server.

I understand your concern, but this kind of thinking only makes the bill less palatable.
Thanks for your links.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

I will definitely read that. Sounds more like a "workout" plan than a "bailout". I wonder if it is the same or similar to Dave Ramsey's ideas. I have not seen them either, but heard he has them on his website and people have been sending them to Congress.

This seems like common sense. If they work around this outline they could entice me to support it.

http://foxx.house.gov/uploads/RSC%20Version%20Economic%20Rescue%20Alternative%209-29-08.pdf

[JRScott]

The plan I posted earlier has some common points with dave ramsey's. Here is Dave's:

http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/the_common_sense_fix.pdf

[Bandit]

Well said!

See that bandit, you and I agree on something. LOL

I like your avatar.
I went and bought that movie and watched it again sunday night, laughing through the whole thing. That is a classic that will never die.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

I like your avatar.
I went and bought that movie and watched it again sunday night, laughing through the whole thing. That is a classic that will never die.

My 14 year old caught one of the shows on regular T.V. We both sat down and watched. I had not watched the show since I was young. I laughed so hard. I then went and rented cannon ball run.

[JollyGG]

Remember.. www.house.gov and www.senate.gov... Lets see if we can actually crash the house server.

[JRScott]

Looks good Jolly

Sadly my Rep. mail isn't working the gov't site says. I have wrote my Senators though who are taking up the bill tomorrow. I'll keep trying to thank Virginia Foxx though .

[JollyGG]

Remember.. www.house.gov and www.senate.gov... Lets see if we can actually crash the house server.

Well you may have done it. I can email my senators just fine but I get the following error when I try and email my represenatative.

The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Well you may have done it. I can email my senators just fine but I get the following error when I try and email my represenatative.

The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience.

I wrote mine earlier today. My Rep also voted "NO" our emails were similar.

I actually called my Senators office today. I was surprised they had people actually answering phones.

[JollyGG]

Well you may have done it. I can email my senators just fine but I get the following error when I try and email my represenatative.

The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience.

I kept trying and finally got it to go through.

[banca rotta]

I like your avatar.
I went and bought that movie and watched it again sunday night, laughing through the whole thing. That is a classic that will never die.

I got it in your honor. It sometimes reminds me of you and I.

It was a classic! I was sorry to see Jerry Reed pass away several weeks ago.

[Bandit]

I got it in your honor. It sometimes reminds me of you and I.

It was a classic! I was sorry to see Jerry Reed pass away several weeks ago.

Oh, I figured.

I showed that to my cousin on saturday...we both were laughing so hard at your avatar! That is when I decided to run out & get the movie.

We got a long way to go and a short time to get there...
& Sally is another good one in all she does & Jackie Gleason will survive for eternity.

[Bandit]

My 14 year old caught one of the shows on regular T.V. We both sat down and watched. I had not watched the show since I was young. I laughed so hard. I then went and rented cannon ball run.

I said the same exact thing. When it was over I told myself I had to go get Cannoball Run next

[Scott50]

I found the below article very helpful in understanding how we got into this mess- interesting thing that it was written back in 1999.. I know that the Bush Administration has taken alot of heat for this mess.. Looks like we can thank the previous Administraion (Clinton) for part of this..

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

BY STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Great Article Scott. Where did you find the article? Thanks