Dead people were given mortgage loans. DEAD. PEOPLE.

[chupacabranation]

If you want to read about the seedy underbelly of the mortgage market:

http://www.thislife.org/extras/radio/355_transcript.pdf

Choice quote: "Actually that pulse thing. Also optional. Like the case in Ohio where 23 dead people were approved for mortgages."

Any society that values the well-being of a certifiable idiot that makes 100K a MONTH so he can enjoy cheap blow and STD's in glittery skirts, over the lives of poor people getting foreclosed on their tiny homes...

Well...I'm kind of sad I don't believe in the afterlife b/c I'd like to see them burn

[cui bono]

1. How is that possible and what is the point of doing it?

[rgbecker]

4. I think the idea was to write as many mortgages as possible as that is how they made the money.

If the mortgage lenders didn't require any proof of employment/income then I imagine they didn't care if they were dead or alive. So the mortgage writers simply provided the forms with necessary signatures and wala...another commission!

[Sal Minella]

8. And then the bad paper (carrying the risk) was bundled and sold to the next guy while the seller

kept his commission.

[RoyGBiv]

7. The "why" is the crux of the whole matter ...

In excessively simplistic terms, the mortgage, regardless of its validity, was bundled and sold to some poor idiot who didn't know what he was buying because of how complex the bundles were. The idea at the time was that it didn't really matter if the loan was ever repaid, since the value of the house was going to go up regardless, even the cost of foreclosure would be offset by the margin.

So you've got this worthless loan for $100,000 that you sell to someone else for $110,000, and you've made money regardless. The people that bought the mortgage are then stuck with it, and when the housing bubble burst, it became clear how worthless it was.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. Did they make the payments?

If so, can we get the address of their banks in Heaven, since those institutions probably won't fail? O8)

If they're in Hell though, I don't really want to deal with those banks. 666% interest with your soul as collateral.... not my idea of a good risk. :evilfrown:

[chupacabranation]

6. AHAHAHAHAHA n/t

[bigtree]

3. Working people were given mortgage loans

. . . those make up the bulk of the delinquent debt.

The abuses like the dead borrowers didn't create this crisis, the failing economy and the inability of working Americans to keep up with their debts did.

[Blue Diadem]

13. According to our former state AG, 25% of our foreclosures

in Ohio were mortgages that involved outright fraud, where the buyer, the seller, the appraiser—everybody was cut in. I'm really curious what the % is across the country.

Job loss and medical crisis accounted for 50% of Ohio's foreclosures while 25% was sub-prime loans that involved people who couldn't either afford the house or signed a contract they didn't fully understand.

[lligrd]

5. I Think They Sold The Houses To The Dead At A High Profit

and then left the mortgage company holding the bill while they split the profits. I recall a similar scam in San Diego although they used real people who had no knowledge of the deals and were quite shocked to learn that they had purchased property.

[Generator]

9. That's way sub prime

Vat a country, ladies and germs!

[prayin4rain]

10. .

[prayin4rain]

11. That is their own fault, they should not have taken out the loan if they could not pay it back!

I don't want to bail out these deadbeats!

[4 t 4]

12. and you have a problem with that

because? Yea give um SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS

[prayin4rain]

14. i'm not sure if you're serious....

i was just joking... saying that dead people shouldn't have taken out loans that they had no intention of paying back. didn't know if you were playing along... or confused... but i thought i would clarify. :+

[HughMoran]

15. That's the best show ever if you want to understand what happened

It should be required listening for ALL DUers.

It's only one hour of your life people!

LISTEN TO IT! Your jaw will hit the floor!!

[suston96]

16. Dead people have been voting in elections for years. They have to live somewhere........! nt

[flvegan]

17. So you're talking fraud, then.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Like oh the 1920s

and people faced time in the pokey for that.

Here is where the phrase of selling swampland in Florida comes from