Americans Debt ratio is huge

[truthmatters]

http://tinyurl.com/2qnbma


This is not good

[Mr. P]

http://tinyurl.com/2qnbma


This is not good

I have zero debt...THAT's A GOOD THING.

[Nukeman]

I have a house note and a single car payment. My wife and I always pay off our loans early. We have no credit card debt at all. The banks make it way to easy to get credit anymore. We need to have stricter guidelines on how much credit you can have and hold at one time.

I remember when my wife and I were first married we applied for a credit card with a bank we had been with for years and they gave us one with a $200.00 limit after having that card for 3 years we asked to raise the limit, they went all the way up to $250.00 can you believe that.

The banks will give college students cards with $20,000.00 in limit with no income or way of paying it back.

People are to blame for not managing their own money but the banks are guilty of letting anyone have credit...

[truthmatters]

I have a house note and a single car payment. My wife and I always pay off our loans early. We have no credit card debt at all. The banks make it way to easy to get credit anymore. We need to have stricter guidelines on how much credit you can have and hold at one time.

I remember when my wife and I were first married we applied for a credit card with a bank we had been with for years and they gave us one with a $200.00 limit after having that card for 3 years we asked to raise the limit, they went all the way up to $250.00 can you believe that.

The banks will give college students cards with $20,000.00 in limit with no income or way of paying it back.

People are to blame for not managing their own money but the banks are guilty of letting anyone have credit...


I agree the Banks and other lending institutions have not been properly restricted from making loans harmful to our economy. We need better oversite on these entities and stricter lendig regulations.

Education in high school for basic economic understanding and insight to business prctices so kids can better understand how insurance, savings ,401Ks and the like work sohtey can protect themselves from things like preditory lending.

[Mr. P]

I agree the Banks and other lending institutions have not been properly restricted from making loans harmful to our economy. We need better oversite on these entities and stricter lendig regulations.

Education in high school for basic economic understanding and insight to business prctices so kids can better understand how insurance, savings ,401Ks and the like work sohtey can protect themselves from things like preditory lending.

How about people just think? Whata concept, huh?

[Nukeman]

How about people just think? Whata concept, huh?Its not a matter of "education" in most cases its a matter of envy, selfcenteredness, and selfishness. People see something thay "WANT" and the buy it on credit, they dont think "hmmm do I really need that 50 inch plasma HD TV".

People today think they have to have everything they deffinitly dont do the

need orwant test everything is a "I NEED" even when it is not.

I have started tp teach my children the importance of saving and how 401k's work and how mutual funds and other types of investments work and how well they can be if they START EARLY. My oldest son who is 14.5 was very interested in compounded interest and how 1,000 dollars invested at age 16 is soo much better than 10,000 invested at 25.

I gotta say I am very blessed with the level headedness of my children and how well they actuall do manage their money....

[manu1959]

i have a house payment........that is it....

[5stringJeff]

I agree the Banks and other lending institutions have not been properly restricted from making loans harmful to our economy. We need better oversite on these entities and stricter lendig regulations.

Two problems:

1. Each loan that is made is between a willing borrower and a willing lender, who has added enough interest into the loan to make it worth the risk to lend to the paticular borrower.

2. "Stricter lending regulations" will lead to fewer people getting home loans, and those fewer people will be lower-income, who are mostly minorities. So when you attempt to tighten up lending regulations, you are, in essence, 'targeting' the poor and minority communities, and God knows you can't do that in this country.

[diuretic]

Same in Oz. Highest debt levels ever and the blame is being put on baby-boomers (I'm a baby boomer but I was divorced therefore I am not not a "wealthy baby-boomer" as the cliche goes nowadays here). I dunno, how many plasma televisions can you own anyway?

[shattered]

http://tinyurl.com/2qnbma


This is not good

This is where personal responsibility comes in.. Banks and lending institutions don't know whether you're really capable of making payments on what you owe - only you do. Banks and lending institutions are there to make money - not "help" you.

I wanted a house at 25. I didn't buy a house until 35. Why do you suppose that is?

[truthmatters]

What about the personal responsiblity of the Lending institutions?

If you think banks dont have any idea who they are lending to when give money out you are not well informed.

The reason you did not buy a house at 25 is at that time banks were not handing out loans like they did in the last few years.

[5stringJeff]

What about the personal responsiblity of the Lending institutions?

If you think banks dont have any idea who they are lending to when give money out you are not well informed.

The reason you did not buy a house at 25 is at that time banks were not handing out loans like they did in the last few years.

The banks know exactly who they are lending to. That's the whole point of credit checks. And they account for who they are lending to by raising their interest rates on higher-risk loans.

[April15]

That a major amount of Americans are very far in debt effects all of us. Those who have no debt will be just as hamstrung if the rest default and drive us into a recession or worse yet a depression. Also look at the rate of production and national debt ownership.

[manu1959]

so it is the banks fault people are stupid.......

evolution and darwin's theory man......survival of the fittest...no tampering with nature.....

[Trigg]

so it is the banks fault people are stupid.......

evolution and darwin's theory man......survival of the fittest...no tampering with nature.....

I wouldn't say it's the banks fault, but they certainly arn't helping out and they know it. Giving someone a loan with 25% interrest is crazy, and the person taking the loan is stupid.

People who default on their loans and credit cards drive the prices up for everyone else.

If people too control of their spending this would be a non-issue.

[manu1959]

I wouldn't say it's the banks fault, but they certainly arn't helping out and they know it. Giving someone a loan with 25% interrest is crazy, and the person taking the loan is stupid.

People who default on their loans and credit cards drive the prices up for everyone else.

If people too control of their spending this would be a non-issue.

they offer a service.....

it is the peopoles choice to buy or not to buy.....

[Trigg]

they offer a service.....

it is the peopoles choice to buy or not to buy.....

Your right, it's a business and they're out to make money.

But....not to many years ago, it was hard to get a loan. You had to prove over many months/years that you were dependable and the banks rewarded you with higher credit/lower interest.

Now they'll give a loan to people just out of bankrupcy, people they know aren't a good risk.

The banks don't really loose money since they've collected the interest it's the businesses who pass the cost onto the other consumers.

[bullypulpit]

The only debt we have is our mortgage. We re-financed out of a three year ARM in July, and got a 15 year fixed at 6%. We're paying $300 more per month, but it will cut $90,000+ from the cost of the loan.

My wife works for a title agency, and sees an average of $30,000 in unsecured debt on most of the refinances she does...Unsecured as in credit card debt.

[truthmatters]

I have two mortgages and one car loan.

One house in Cali I rent with a very low interst rate and one house in Vegas with also a low interest rate. Both houses I owe about 1/4th what they are worth today and the cali one turns a profit.

I was warning everyone I knew not to take money out of their house during the run up of prices.

What many of you forget is these loans actually made some people wealthy.

A couple of years ago you could buy a house No down interest only and rent it for a year and then sale at a profit. The loan never got a chance to flip out of an interest only loan. Some people saw the success and figured they would get in on it and got caught with their pants down whne the market changed. Some people just took money out of their homes thinking the prices would just keep going up. The loan companies who acted just as stupid as these buyers deserve as much rath as the people who were talked into the loans.

[actsnoblemartin]

the real question is, what do we do about it ?


http://tinyurl.com/2qnbma


This is not good

[April15]

the real question is, what do we do about it ?I don't believe WE can do much. WE can write our legislatures and remind them about fiscal prudence. We can try to get regulations to stop the creditors from being so loose with the credit. As for people making change I would not think anything could be done outside of courses in middle school about finances. I choose middle school as high school is to late get senseable minds to listen.

[Yurt]

I don't believe WE can do much. WE can write our legislatures and remind them about fiscal prudence. We can try to get regulations to stop the creditors from being so loose with the credit. As for people making change I would not think anything could be done outside of courses in middle school about finances. I choose middle school as high school is to late get senseable minds to listen.


Then why did you go to college? And why bother learning anything now?

Does anyone ever use cursive writing anymore? Serious, anyone?

[Yurt]

the real question is, what do we do about it ?

IMO, let the economy take care of it. It will work itself it out. The credit companies aren't going to be making money if everyone can't pay. Secured credit, another thing entirely.

[Hugh Lincoln]

The trick is to save a portion of what you earn, but I know that's hard. Between the mortgage and daycare, our margin of saving is slim... very slim. And my wife and I are both working professionals. I don't know how other folks do it. The middle class is fucked in this country, and the political party that gets that can make hay. Right now, though, it's either multi-culti commies or neocons.