Another loan shark euphemism: ” less-than-good credit histories.” If they can’t afford prime, what makes you think charging more than prime is more affordable?
I appreciate the respectful explanation of a lending practice that, like the S&L bailout, will cost all of us taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. MBA-schools have been churning out clever crooks as business men who look for legal loopholes to feed on the poor and the so called (shrinking?)Middle class.

Credit ratings are a cruel game which is designed to increase the number of people categorized as subprime risks. We are all victims of the predatory lending practices which have surfaced as a the result of deregulating the banking and finance business and the rapid growrth of overleveraged capitalization of capital markets by unregulated ecoomic globalization.

Sorry, but the dark-blue suited, red-tied crooks are in charge of the economic policies milking us all like the people in battery vats in the Movie the Matrix!
Someone has said this “I don’t necessarily love the Fed, however, they’re not “all out to get us”.” Must I point out that I never asserted that “all” lenders are doing that. To imply, or, as has been done here, assert I have that position on the topic, puts a spin on my Q that was never there. It’s called a *strawman argument and it would be illogical for me the asker respond to that argument- except to point out these things to the person who misrepresents or spins my Q using that tactic.
* indicates my recommendation to the Q-spinner to look up the term.

This is just a sampling of H & R Blocks predatory lending scheme…Capital One and Wachovia both do this all the time to their customers - unfortunately, there are no laws to stop them either….

Although RALs are offered by legit businesses, the loan terms rival those of the neighborhood loan shark. Small fees ($30 here, $59 there) add up. On the average refund this year ($2,150), forking over $100 to cover loan costs puts your effective APR at 178%. (No, that’s not a typo.) Add in admin fees and you’re looking at a 235% APR. (Again, not a typo.)

Congressional leaders have embraced predatory lenders and their greed with this $700billion bailout/handout at the expense of the middle class/average American tax-payer.
What Washington has not told you is that printing an extra $700billion is going to greatly increase inflation, further devaluing home property values, spiking fuel prices and increasing cost of food and every other daily expenditure of the American worker.
In no way does the “revamped” bailout package address the root cause of the Wall Street/fat-cat bankers’ greed, nor does the $700billion bailout/handout to Wall Street/NYC greed offer sufficient or immediate help in stabilizing the housing market.
Americans can look to further devaluations of their homes, savings and any earnings for at least the next two years because of the Washington stiff-arming this $700billion bailout/handout to the financial industry at tax-payer expense.
Washington is not telling you the truth about the negative repercussions of such extravagant handouts to the rich at the expense of the US common man, ma, pa, bro and sis on Main Street.
IF your Congressional leaders vote for adopting the $700billion Wall Street bailout, either they have not been given the full picture, or they are in the pockets of the financial industry lobbyists taking what middle class Americans have earned away from them.
The bailout continues to be a fraud perpetrated on the US taxpayer. Wall Street executives will continue to take their undeserved exorbitant salary for creating such a debacle. “Parachute” packages are not the only CEO/executive expense that the tax payer is expected to pay.
The /US economy has proven its resiliency aqs private industry is buying up wall Street/banking failures without taxpayer money as shown in the most recent CitiGroup purchase of failing Wachovia Bank and JPMorgan purchase of failing Washington Mutual.
Whty does Washington refuse to address the root cause of such a “debacle” - that is predatory lending practices and the high-risk game fat-cat bankers and the reckless on Wall Street have chosen for themselves?

If not, then how is it possible to cure a flawed economic system based on unregulated casino capitalism and predatory lending by capping CEO pay and increasing FDIC insurance?

I smell a red herring.
I’m not saying golden parachutes are a good thing, i’m just saying that focusing on them is like chipping away at the problem with an icepick when we need to smash it up with a sledgehammer.
Boss H - exactly! We don’t need to slow the bleeding we need to heal the wound!

While the Federal Government is busy bailing out the mortgage lenders with hundreds of millions of tax dollars, wouldn’t also be fair for the Feds to pass legislation to stop the lenders from charging huge penalties and late fees? After all, if the tax payer has to foot the bill for bailing out the lenders, shouldn’t the tax payer get something in return like lower interest rates, no late penalties and fees? Or, is the Federal Government just going to continue the predatory lending practices that seem to have become the norm in the lending industry. Maybe a little reform is in order?

I think the economy will come back on its own. It wont be tommorow but it will. I don’t think the government should help financial institutions who DID THIS TO THEMSELVES. Sets a bad example. They did it by giving loans to people who could not afford to pay or had bad credit also with their predatory lending. Also people need to stop blaming the economy on Iraq. We have been in a recession like this or worse without a war going on at the same time. Thoughs?

There are millions of people without homes or are paying high interest on their loans for their home / cars / credit cards … this is caused from de regulation. Someone who does not qualify for a loan may be told that they do because there are no regulations put into place to stop them. The lender gets their money and then sells the loan off to an unknowing investors and boom you got an ugly mess on your hands. That’s where we are at folks. The honest were taken by the greedy and now we are all paying the price for it.

Who will you vote for? The candidate who had the foresight to see the writing on the wall and has been saying we need change OR the blind candidate who thought that America was strong and the economy was fine until he found out it really wasn’t
Sorry Army Sniper that answer doesnt cut it. Do you realize how many homeowners are young, have bad credit, uneducated, have language barriers … and are preyed on by greedy lenders and brokers ??
Dave — just the amount of monthly salary that you are quoting tells me that you don’t have a clue on how predatory lending practices work. Get yourself educated on how consumers can be manipulated by non disclosure.
Dave for the record - I also live in California. The entry level position IS NOT $5000. Many of the new homeowners were taken by not only their realtors who told them the market was strong and would keep going up for years to come but also by loan officers and brokers who gave them interest only loans or loans with teaser rates. Realtors were influenced by kickbacks and money under the table. Brokers were enticed by yield spread premiums - you know the money given from the bank to the broker to get the deal done? Again, this bill of goods was often sold to the unsavy who trusted the people that took their hand and told them everything was going to be okay. The lending industry is filled with sharks because of de regulations.
Army Sniper its your problem when elected officials change regulations that were put in place after the Great Depression to prevent the fall of the economy by fraud. And now, you are having to pay for it … or are you the one with the offshore bank account? Didn’t think so. Look I’m not trying to make excuses for lack of common sense by any means - but regulations need to be put back into place to prevent fraud of this magnitude.

How did I take out a loan for $25k and now owe them over $32k when I make my payments on time every month??? I was told by two separate institutions now that this is one of the problems Wells Fargo is facing for predatory lending (along with mortgages). Any guidance you can provide to help get my interest rate DOWN and FIXED is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Sorry, StarDust, but you must not understand private student loans! I haven’t seen a private loan that is fixed. The majority are variable rates with floors and no ceilings (opp. of federal loans).
Also, the difference is NOT interest. I am financially savy and I know how interest works.
For example: I borrow $25k and make a pymt of $400/month of which $325 is interest and $75 is principal. However, my loan amount should go DOWN by $75, not UP.

Other answers/suggestions/comments are requested.

When I was purchasing my home back in 2006 my realtor/broker told me that i need a down payment in order for me to purchase a home with 30 year fixed, so he suggested to borrow money of $148,500 from a private lender Tat Wong. That’s why my 1st morgage came out to $346,500 and a second mortgage of $148,500.

After a year, my realtor who’s connected to the private lender took over the loan of $148,500 and added $500 on top of that loan and came out to $149,000 and started paying him $1308 monthly interest only. The rate is too high. and I think he’s been making money out of me. If I cant pay he’ll forclose my home.

I am paying $2,276.26 on my 1st and $1308.00 on my 2nd. My mortgage payment is too high.

With all of these duplicitous lending companies going bust, how will Barack Obama’s policy of tax the well-to-do to create social institutions to protect the middle class even begin to help the stock market?
To those who have already answered, and who have yet to answer.
Reregulation will not help the stock market, and both candidates are promising that. Neither will assigning blame either to Bush, or the Democrat Controlled Congress. What I’m looking for are solutions, not blame or future preventative measures.