Blogging Away Debt

The other day while working, I heard something breaking downstairs. I ran down the steps to see my favorite eagle figurine on the floor broken into many pieces. My heart dropped a little bit seeing it somewhere other than on its shelf.

Next to it was my son. He had banged into the wall rough housing and that caused it to fall down. Thankfully it didn’t hit him, but my eagle was destroyed. Now, I don’t even remember where I bought it or for how much, but it was such a find for me. It was a life size sculpture of a bald eagle head.

I went back upstairs to work and let my husband take care of disposing of my eagle. I soon hear little feet coming up the steps. My son came over to me and with the saddest face and told me that he was sorry. He gave me a hug and asked me if I would like him to make a picture of an eagle. I said I would like that a lot.

A few minutes later, he came back up with his creation…

That settles it. Something as precious as that is worth a whole lot more than any sculpture I could ever buy 🙂

More High-Risk Mortgages are Going Into Foreclosure

by Tricia

One of my wonderful readers sent me the following article on Yahoo, Foreclosures rising among high-risk US mortgages. Reading a story like this makes me feel sick in my stomach and so glad we went with a traditional 30-year fixed interest rate mortgage instead of an adjustable rate mortgage (which the second bank we went to tried to sell us).

Basically, a large number of homeowners now have adjustable rate mortgages that they can no longer afford. They were able to get the mortgages because of lenders sometimes were not even requesting proof that borrowers could pay back the loan. At the time of getting the mortgage, the interest rate was more manageable. Then, when it came time for a new interest rate, some homeowners’ monthly payments increased and some even doubled.

Why would a lender to that?

I think it’s summed up quite well here, taken from the article:

“Wall Street wanted the mortgage brokers to keep making loans even though they were riskier and riskier,” says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates in Washington, D.C. “They didn’t care that … people were getting loans they couldn’t afford because there was so much money to be made.”

We all want to make money, but at what cost?

Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

It’s Worth a Whole Lot More

More High-Risk Mortgages are Going Into Foreclosure