Mercy

I get most of these from Atrios' blog.. he's all into the economic issues you know..

No mercy shown for those who flee mortgage loans

KENNETH R. HARNEY | Washington Post Writers Group
April 13, 2008


WASHINGTON—The country's two largest sources of mortgage money have a blunt warning for anyone thinking about joining the "walkaway" trend, where homeowners stop making payments and months later send the house keys to their lender: You will feel the pain.

On March 31, Fannie Mae sent out new guidelines to lenders aimed at walkaways and other foreclosure situations. Fannie will prohibit foreclosed borrowers from getting another mortgage through it for five years, unless there are "documented extenuating circumstances." In those cases, the prohibition is three years.

Even after five years, borrowers with foreclosures in their files will have to put at least 10 percent down and need minimum FICO credit scores of 680.

And that makes sense. There is a price to be paid for defaulting on a loan that a person agreed to pay.. If a few years later the person gets their financial situation straightened out, they can try again.

It seems very fair.. and is really the only thing that needs to be done about the "crises".