AFL-CIO survey shows most mortgage owners lack understanding

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/7056

AFL-CIO survey shows most mortgage owners lack understanding

By Doug Cunningham

As the mortgage crisis continues to unfold the AFL-CIO says a new survey found that nearly half of homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages don’t understand them and how they reset monthly payments. Nearly half-a-trillion dollars worth of adjustable rate mortgages, or ARM’s, will reset soon. The average increase in payments will be $291 per month. Leslie Tolf of Union Privilege says this is a story of uninformed people reaching for the American Dream while mortgage lenders created an American nightmare for them instead.

: “It is a crisis. And it’s a tale of two communities. We’ve got some consumers out there that are doing well - they’ve got a fixed rate loan – and others who are finding themselves in a terrifying situation of adjustable rate mortgages any time the interest rate climate goes up.”

Tolf says a Save My Home hotline is being created to give advice and information for union members on dealing with the coming ARM reset crisis. The number is 1-866-490-5361. The AFL-CIO survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates showed 77 percent of homeowners want government to do more to regulate the mortgage industry.

[Lint Head]

1. Understanding? The loan companies sold these loans

knowing people would not totally understand them. I must say I do read the fine print. When we bought our home we were offered an adjustable rate. I have a fixed loan. Arms are a rip off from the word go. They were conceived to make the loan entity's more profit. The golden rule. Those with the gold make the rules. You will never see a major loan company do anything to the advantage of the customer. Greed is the American way. End corporate Constitutional rights now. :dem: