The deferred rent/mortgage/bill payment has ended and people are going "How could this happen to me"
From The Washington Post/MSN:
A tsunami of deferred debt is about to hit homeowners no longer protected by a foreclosure moratorium
Only one week after New Orleans enacted a citywide stay-at-home order in March 2020, Laura Landry was hospitalized with covid-19, putting her out of work. Before she could recover, she was furloughed from her jobs as a nail technician and hotel employee.
When she found out she could enroll in forbearance — a provision that allowed those with federally backed mortgages facing covid-related hardships to defer their monthly payments — she took the opportunity. But now she owes over $20,000 on her home, and her forbearance ends next month, since the federal ban on foreclosures expired Saturday.
Landry is one of about 1.8 million homeowners still in forbearance as the safety net is removed. About a fifth of them will not be able to extend their forbearance past September. And 1.5 million more are at least three months behind on their mortgage without the protection of a forbearance plan.
More at the site. Most forebearance plans were for 12 months, some up to 18 months. I understand that COVID hit the economy but the end of these programs did not take anyone by surprise. If I was in that position? Tighten my belts, sock as much money away in savings for when the program ended. Contact my mortgage holder to work out some kind of plan for repayment while resuming current payments.
There is zero need for a "Woe Is Me" attitude. In the example they gave, Ms. Landry worked as a nail technician and hotel employee. She is $20K in the hole. Assume a 12-month forbearance, that would be $1,600 monthly mortgage payment. A bit much for that level of income. Half her income? What was she doing to further herself - was she taking classes at a local community college for welding or HVAC? Wages in these fields start at $60K and go up fast - big demand. Did she seek to refi her house?
So many options and from the article, it sounds like she spent the "extra" $1.6K and there is nothing left. Again, I feel sorry for her but there is only one real source for the majority of the blame.
I am reminded of the sober history lesson from Robert Anson Heinlein:
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
So true - the socialists and mask-ninnies (but I repeat myself) want to drag us into the dark ages.
The better to manage our lives. To "nudge" us into proper behaviour.
They know so much more than we do about how to run our own lives - we should be grateful for their concern.
Believe that and I have a bridge for sale - you might be interested in it.
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