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Subscribe to RSSTo grasp the breadth of the housing crisis affecting a large portion of American troops past and present, consider the ironic case of Grant Moon:
After 13 years as a soldier and captain in the Army National Guard and Army Reserves, logging time in Baghdad during 2007 and 2008, Moon returned to home soil to launch a home-loan advisement firm for service members. This month, Moon’s company will partner with VeteransPlus, a nonprofit that has supplied financial education to more than 150,000 current and former soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.
“I am underwater on my home," Moon said. "I can’t refinance (because he owes more on his home loan than the property is worth). Yet I have my own company that’s very well tapped into the mortgage market. So, you know, this is a big problem.”
Related: Feds move to help out underwater military homeowners
The rates of underwater mortgages and foreclosures appear to be higher among active-duty U.S. troops and ex-service members than among American civilians, said John E. Pickens, executive director of VeteransPlus, and a former combat medic with the U.S. Army Special Forces and 82nd Airborne Division.
“It’s more commonplace than people know,” agreed William Jewsbury, a retired Army Master Sergeant who spent 33 years in the service. In 2011, he was forced to do a short sale on his home near Portland, Ore., losing about $70,000 in the transaction. “Especially for the guys over in the sandbox – Iraq and Afghanistan – it’s pretty common. If the banks nail you (with a foreclosure notice) while you’re in theater, you can’t just drop whatever you’re doing to come home and take care of it.”
Related: Company accused of deception turns GIBill.com over to VA
While no firm national statistics are available to gauge the full scope of military-mortgage misery, VeteransPlus says that among the 150,000 service members it has counseled since the U.S. mortgage meltdown began in 2008, 39 percent (or 58,500) had housing concerns, almost half needed emergency financial help, and 82 percent had less than one month of mortgage-payment savings in reserve.
Service members have “several things stacked against them," Pickens said, especially active-duty troops, national guard and reserves. "Those things include the frequency of deployments and a difficulty finding employment when they get home.”
Related: Pentagon, Congress eye new payday loan rules
Based on interviews with three financial experts who work with service members and two veterans with mortgage issues of their own, there appear to be six basic reasons why thousands of current and former troops are sliding into shaky housing ground.
1. Deployments (and re-deployments) to war zones
More than half of the 150,000 military clients counseled by VeteransPlus are reservists or national guard members, meaning they leave full-time jobs - and their civilian salaries - when they're sent overseas. During deployments, those troops are paid according to their rank.
"Many of them are receiving lower wages while serving as military personnel than they were when employed at home," Pickens said. "So if a guy is, say, an E3 rank, the pay is between $1,750 a month and $1,981 a month." In the States, those same people may gross $3,000 to $5,000 per month or more.
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Moreover, many service members faced several deployments. When Afghanistan and Iraq broke out, "nobody estimated that a lot of these people would be deployed three to four times," said Chris Fizpatrick, director of strategic partnerships for the Yellow Ribbon Registry Network. "That lack of fiscal planning is something we end up focusing on a great deal."
2. Partners at home often struggle with budgeting
VeteransPlus has tracked a clear trend among the 150,000 military families with whom it has worked: "The person who deploys is typically the person paying the bills at home," said Fitzpatrick, who in addition to his Yellow Ribbon work serves as deputy director of VeteransPlus.
So, before one partner ships out, the other person at home "is saying, 'Hey, wait a minute now: you want me to take care of the bills, the car, the house? This is not my game.' To which the person leaving for duty says, 'Sorry, I have to deploy. Learn it fast.'
"That," Fitzpatrick added," has always been a problem."
Additionally, when financial issues surface - such as lapsed house payments - the spouse or partner at home is often reluctant to inform the overseas soldier, not wanting them to lose focus while in combat, Pickens said. "They ask themselves: 'Do I really reveal this letter I got from the mortgage company? Do they really need to hear about that where they are right now?' "
When mortgage issues are kept hidden in that way, they only grow bigger and more complicated, both men said.
3. Predatory lenders
In October 2011, a whistleblower lawsuit was unsealed in a federal court in Atlanta alleging that some of the nation's largest banks and lenders had defrauded veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans.
Among the companies accused in that lawsuit were Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, who were alleged to have engaged in “a brazen scheme to defraud both our nation’s veterans and the United States treasury” of millions of dollars in connection with home loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a result, the suit claimed, tens of thousands of the VA loans have gone into default or resulted in foreclosures.
One of Moon's prime motivations for launching VA Loan Captain was to give veterans a safe place to obtain home financing. His company has so far vetted four banks - mandating that each sign a guarantee pledge that blends ethical, legal and compliance components - before suggesting that his military clients use those institutions to obtain mortgages.
"We pre-screen these banks and make sure there’s no type of predatory lending. Then we allow the bank to operate on our platform," Moon said. "(Through our company), veterans can go online anonymously, get pricing fees among some of our platform VA lenders so they have a transparent environment to see what the pricing is going to be. That gives them the ability to make an informed decision."
4. Frequent transfers and the military mindset
When active military members receive orders to transfer to a new base, they have to decide if the market will even allow them to sell their property. If their mortgage is underwater, they will lose money in a sale.
"When things do happen that affect our stability, primarily for active duty members, it is outside of our control," said Robert Sanders, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant who worked in information management, serving 14 years overseas.
His mortgage dilemma emerged after he retired from the military. When Sanders was offered a civilian job in Florida, he was forced to do a short sale on his home in Arizona, which had lost 60 percent of its value during the downturn. (He also was unable to rent the house).
"A military member may have bought a home and thought they could ride out their last few years until retirement at the same location," Sanders said. "However, if the Air Force gives you orders, you cannot refuse them simply based on the fact that you have a home and would need to sell it.
"They have the old ideal that this will be their only home from now until death so, why not start at the top (with a larger, pricier home), since they can't imagine buying now and having the option to perhaps sell and upgrade later. Military tend to think in long-term, locked-in directions"
Added Moon: "A lot of people in the military don’t necessarily think ahead. It’s like, 'Hey, I'll just buy every two years'. But you have to think ahead. If you’re in the military, chances are you’ll probably move again."
5. Lack of financial literacy
The inability to fully understand the housing market, credit scores, home budgets or other money matters leads many service members to make poor fiscal choices, Moon said.
"As many military tend to come from lower income families, the idea of ever owning a home is truly an American dream, but the result is to potentially enter (such a purchase) without a basis of (financial) experience or understanding," Sanders said. "The military doesn't tend to push training in areas of personal finance."
6. VA Loans and buying too big
Through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, service members can obtain VA-guaranteed mortgages issued by qualified lenders. But some veterans have made the critical mistake, Sanders said, of securing a VA loan they can't truly afford.
"Having the VA Loan makes it tempting for someone to take more than they need," Sanders said. "This can come from either the Realtor talking it up for their own benefit, or the military member seduced with the 'if THIS is good, but I can afford THAT, why wouldn't I take THAT?' mentality."
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Leave a Comment:
The military used to have a program to help veterans recoup money is they are forced to move and sell the current home. But that program was cut during the Bush administration.
The military used to have a program that provided free housing to soldiers. They were called barracks.
The Vets and all of us, have the justice department to thank, Eric Holder is part of the legal network behind/protecting the NYC banking scandal and Obama put him in charge..congress sit back smug and got a lot of political donations from NYC banking so they did nothing...by the way, the banking industry did pay about 500 million in fines but got protection from later lawsuits and legal proscution..and the 500 million is just 4% of the bonuses they gave out..what a bargin..not even a mosquito bite on an elephants butt for them..
I kinda doubt that. Typically Dems are for more bank regulation and punishment for banks and Republican are for less.
Gotta love how the GOP mantra (its not our problem to resolve your housing issues) has hit the military.
It's Easy Soldier Boy don't buy more of a Home than you can Afford. Welcome to Civilian Life no Favors here.
Kinda rudely put, ranknfile....but absolutely true nonetheless. Nobody is responsible for your housing problems, except you, no matter who you are. I personally either lived in government quarters or rented during a 22-year military career, in order to avoid being saddled with ownership problems.
And, ItsAboutTime, if that is in fact the GOP mantra, then the GOP is spot on. Who do you propose should bail out military personnel who make stupid housing decisions? Oh wait, I know; you're a liberal, right? So, of course the government should bail out the military....and eveybody else....right?
Fight for your country--of course, we won't cover your health care needs should you become injured and we'll let the banks put your family in the street when you're on the front line. But when you die, we'll give your family a flag and our thanks from a grateful nation.
and $255 towards your grave marker
rankfile; I believe you missed the point; many Natl. Guard And reserve solder's; had good paying civilian jobs; some have been deployed as long as two or three overseas duty's for a total of 3-4 years; their pay was less than half of what they were making at their civilian job; they still had the mortgage obligations taken out based on their civilian salary, after 4 years their savings were all gone, and when they came back, their jobs were gone, (soldiers and sailors relief act does not apply to company's that were down sized, bought up merged or moved overseas); the lenders do not give a damn, Justice knew of the gouging problem when they went in to refinance but Holder did nothing; we screwed our own soldiers, to make a extra buck, no stimulus money went to them , it instead went to banks and wall street.
What the eff spider and rank... with all of the misdeeds by the banks have been accused of and the settlements established you still want to blame it ALL on the buyers. You must work in the financial industry to be so callous when it comes to the TROOPS who secure and protect OUR (and unfortunately your) freedoms. Libor scandal, BofA settlement, Citigroup settlement, GSachs settlement, JP morgan settlement, etc (this list goes on and on and on) and you still think the banks did NOTHING wrong. You are BLIND to facts.
GOP Chairman of banking committee Spencer Bacchus said “In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks,” This illustrates that the GOP (and some democraps) could give two SH_TS about their constituents and the American people as a whole.
I would never buy while on active duty because of the normal reassignment process. If I had remained in the National Guard or Reserve I don't know if I would have bought or not. Military people are advised about this but perhaps it should be emphasized more. HOWEVER - I think military people are owed a debt by our country i.e. the people due to the nature of their service. They sign on the dotted line that they will obey lawful commands given to them even if that means risk of injury or death. In return, we, the people, should ensure they are taken care of when they need us.
spider-737231
No, I am not a liberal. I am moderate democrat. I do not believe in a federal bail out and believe individuals should act responsibility with their own finances. However, why is it then the GOP favors de regulation of corporate america and then when those corporations "FAIL" we have to bail them out. The GOP cares NOTHING about banks that make risky loans and entices the American people to fall for it. Oh, but since Corporations are not hold to the same standard its okay right??? A corporation is a person huh...
You must be a BUSH conservative.
Sorry military... you were sent to fight in an illegal war and when you come back, you won't be able to find a job (because the GOP supported tax cuts for corporations that MOVED your job to another country) and cannot afford housing. However, Cheney and his cronies made a fortune off your efforts.
when.....Please tell me when will everyone understand the Govt. is not here to take care of you....Look at our ..oh how do I say this.....greedmonger representatives that care more about their power and to keep their jobs....while throwing all of us....no matter what party you vote for down the river......How ignorant are you sheeple. Yes a little hard but none the less the truth....kick all these party liners out.....vote for our fed govt. to have to balance our budget....since they would be no where without us....yes us....the tax payers who give them the power.....time to take it back......vote fiscally responsible.....do not see the results....get rid of them. We have the power time to take it back
Hossier, I agree with you that it is not the Gov's job to take care of people. It is their job to create laws and enforce them to create a stable environment where investors and individuals feel confident in investing into the economy and that others will not steal away their hard earned money and that they are protected from the greed of corrupt corporate interests.
A lot of these seem easy to fix:
Don't buy a home (rent) if your job can move you at any time.
Figure out how much you can afford to buy based on the lowest amount of take home pay you can reasonably expect.
Make sure all adults in the household know how to take care of the household. Saying the person who can leave at any time took care of everything and now you don't know what to do is poor planning on a good day.
These apply to everyone, not just our honorable servicemen and women.
Why not have some rules for the Banksters and others selling these homes--like:
1. Be honest in your dealings with clients, don't rip them off just because you can.
2. Help people make the best decision about their purchase based on the documentation submitted to you. Remember that buyers often seek expertise from housing professionals when making this kind of purchase. If they can't trust you, tell them.
3. Remember, there's a reason Banks were forced to make a settlement re housing/mortgage due to Criminal Banking Activity. Taxpayers bailed you out. Show some gratitude instead of harassing soldiers who are risking their lives to fight for their country.
3.
Military personnel living off base are already given extra pay to cover living expenses, those deployed to a war zone are compensated again with hazard duty pay, married they get even more for that.
Spouse isn't use to budgeting and paying bills, simple, set up for the payments to be made directly from your pay, a service already provided to military personnel.
Sign up for reserves, keep your bills to a level you can pay them if you get called up for service don't treat the reserves as "I just have to play weekend warrior once a month and get all this extra money and benefits." No you signed up to be deployed as needed at the drop of a dime, be prepared when that becomes a reality. Most of these issues are even more self made than civilians in the same boat are.
If you know you are extremely likely to have to move in 2-4 years it is insane to buy a house even in a good market. You will almost always loose money on a home purchase or refi if you will not be in the home at least 5-6 years.
They are no more deserving of being bailed out from bad judgement and irresponsible decisions than anyone else is. At least a lot of the civilians have unexpected loss of income and insurance coupled with expensive required medical bills to blame.
Very Well Put Ksandra...! Especially the last paragraph.
A lot of lower enlisted Soldiers are on food stamps, yet they purchase a house, or car they can't afford. NO bail out for them. Its time they too start living within their means. These Soldiers are given plenty of benefits, yet they choose to spend it at strip clubs, bars. Hell most of them go broke before payday weekend is over. Most will go into debt borrowing from those payday lenders.
My husband's enlisted active duty USAF. We own our home (a VA loan) outside of DC. We get a housing allowance, we know there is a risk of getting orders, we know we could have gotten approved for a larger loan. It's all about living within your means. A lot of his co-workers think we were stupid to buy...but I work too. I make more money, actually, and we needed to take both our careers into account when we bought. Yes it was a risk, so far so good, but we wouldn't expect help if we go underwater. We bought a house we could afford, we have a double income, if he deploys I'm not some helpless housewife who can't pay a bill on time. We already get a ton of benefits and perks-->no down payment, free health care, discounts on a lot of services and products, etc. We take on our own debt and take full responsibility, just because we're military doesn't mean we should be exempt from responsible planning and finance management. And yes, Shamrock...I see a lot of my husband's co-workers buying ridiculous cars, every gadget on the market, electronics, alcohol, cigarettes...too each their own, but people need to be responsible adults at some point in their lives.
the military is a microcosim of the general public who can make bad decisions. the bush administration did not end the help for military families underwater trying to sell their homes. a friend of mine used it in oct when they were about to lose money selling their home. when a service member is deployed all their salary is Tax Free and so are all the other allowances; which can add thousands more $'s each month of deployment. not knowing how to budget and overspending is not a milirary thing it's an American thing!
Soldiers serving their country with low pay, sacrificing time with their families and now having greedy mortgage lenders steal their homes awhile they are away in Afghanistan . This country has no real excuse for this, why doesn't Congress pass a bill or law that protects soldiers and thier families from foreclosure when they are on active duty away in Afghanistan. These families lose income when the soldiers serve actively overseas, they don't have time to deal with legal remedies to protect their homes from foreclosure. Protecting our troops should be a priority since they sacrifice so much for all of us. I think that Congress should consider a bill to protect soldiers and their families from foreclosure until they are back in US to fight legally for their homes.
Does the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act not extend to actions in foreclosure? At one point, most any action initiated against a deployed soldier, sailor, airman or marine in civil courts had to be stayed until such time as the deployed service member was available to attend the hearing.
First off Anna it is not your home until the mortgage is paid in full. Until then it belongs to the bank that loaned you the money. That is what is meant by a secured loan, you don't pay the lender takes whatever it is you secured the loan with. The banks are not stealing anyone's home, they are taking possession of the collateral that was used to secure a loan that is in default.
Being on deployment is no excuse not to pay your mortgage. The military already provides free bill pay direct from your check before you ever see it all you have to do is sign up for it. Frankly I'm surprised lenders do not require that to give a loan to military personnel.
While I respect the members of our armed forces I've been too closely related to too many to have some kind of misplaced hero worship going for them. They are no more above doing wrong and making poor choices than any other group is and no more deserving of being protected from their own bad judgement than anyone else is.
The cops and firefighters and corrections officers and even ER personnel all put their lives on the line every day as well. Shall we have special rules for them as well? No? Why not? They do just as much if not more to keep us safe.
Right on Ksandra...it's amazing the hero worship that some want to lay on those who volunteer to serve...we should appreciate their service but frankly they do not deserve special treatment from bankers or the rest of us..they can leave at the end of their hitch if they want...
Ksandra and Rick I AGREE wholeheartedly with both your comments. I'm also tired of the Worshiping and attaboys enough already. Police and Firefighters get no respect and there the ones who really put their lives on the line Day after Day NO COMBAT PAY for them they get shot at too.
Agree, Rank!!! So many people serve our country and are everyday heroes...police, firefighters, doctors. Their pay is still taxed and they don't get free healthcare or 'family separation' pay or 'combat' pay. Not that we shouldn't be thankful for the military (heaven forbid someone reads this as anti-patriotic) but they are not the only deserving heroes in our society. And I grew up in the military and married military (I didn't plan that...I was done moving)
Thank you Ksandra. excellent points made.
also, if you go to va.gov there is an "interest rate reduction loan" already in place for vets and active duty. i used it to lower my interest rate to 3.5%. pass the word.
Retired SGT First Class and Ksandra are absolutely right. I'm currently in the military and we make way more than we do when stationed at home when we are deployed so that really is not an excuse. Furthermore, there are tons of classes on financial planning and budgeting available on every military base for free. most units give mandatory financial literacy classes to troops. You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink. I think it is hilarious the excuses made by this guy Moon. Grow up, be a man and be responsible for the POOR decisions that you have made. When you decide to live off post, find something you can afford where your housing allowance covers your rent or mortgage and utilities and you still have some left over, just in case. Lastly, if you are foolish enough to marry someone who cannot balance a checkbook....whose fault is that? That's probably a little harsh , but true nonetheless and as was mentioned before...just put everything on autopay if you're spouse can't handle it.
That bit in the article about the spouse not used to paying bills, insurance, handling finances, etc was ridiculous. What do they do then?? It's not rocket science. If you don't know how to pay bills on time and manage finances, you shouldn't own a house. Or a car. Even when my husband is TDY (stateside, even!) we get extra pay. Ignorance or stupidity shouldn't excuse you from responsibility.
Lack of financial literacy
VA loans finance 100% of the purchase price. This encourages people to buy homes they cannot afford. If the value of the home goes down even a tiny bit, boom, you're underwater.
Call Rove, Bush and Cheney - I'm sure they will be happy to help!
You can't be foreclosed on if you pay your mortgage. Banks have automatic bill pay, one could easily pay their bills if they wanted to during deployment.
Dear US Treasury:
I have no idea how to make apps or access to pdf documents for the challenge.gov "my money" contest. But I have a simple idea how this money grew back in the Sixties for a more perfect Union with God and Country and "by the people and for the people."
It goes like this:
First US Government minimum wage used to match Union wages and even on such a seemingly meager amount, Americans were able to afford the "American Dream" with a 5 cent savings plan and a 6 percent mortgage and US Savings Bonds (that would have just helped the Stafford Student Loans from doubling) if American families instituted the Savings Bonds from birth. The five cent savings plan worked well with the six percent mortgage, where Dad was the provider of an enlarged family and owned just one mode of transportation at 29 cents a gallon of gasoline, with very few lines of credit indebting him. Now we have about 20 % credit cards that were once known as "loan sharking" and crunch the household income, to the point of foreclosure on over-extended credit. You see minimum wage matching Union wages and a 5 cent savings plan and 6% mortgage was a working system of equity and a good and positive tax base and kept the infrastructure of social security and the postal service operating like a well oiled machine, in the golden years. Let's not forget the divorce rate in this "sugar daddy" society, that creates government programs, like welfare and leeches us and children in the common ground, for the common good. Divorce should not be as convenient as it stands, crippling government procurements. But the American Dream should be more accessible for a balanced society. This starts with minimum wage. Forty hours is forty hours, and for that everyone should be able to afford a modest home. Thank you.
Sounds like a pretty steady trend of good thinkers here.
I am a 14 year military veteran. This is clearly a problem in the military, which is why we spend a lot of time and money trying to train soldiers how to manage their lives financilly and otherwise. The problem is the soldiers do not pay attention and make poor decisions. The best lesson we can give them is to let them fail and learn how the world works. Eventually they will be out of the military and their little bubble will burst.
I have some insight on why their bills aren't being paid. For some reason soldiers also have a habbit of getting their wives and girlfriends from the bottom of the barrel. Four of my men came home from our most recent deployment without a penny of savings because their wives had a year-long party while they were gone. They expected to come home with 20K in savings and ended up spending a year in combat for nothing. Two more came home to find out their wives were leaving them for other men they had found while partying on their husband's deployment pay.
It's a jacked up world out there boys!
That is a good point...my husband has told me multiple stories if his troops coming home to nothing after deployments. They can make bank while deployed (we save his extra pay during those times and have really done well) but it is far too common for those guys to come home and their wives have spent every bit of it. Some of them are still married (one guy came back and his wife had splurged on all sorts of crap...would have left her ass) but a lot of them were left high and dry when they returned. It is sad, but could happen to anyone. Your comment on getting wives/girlfriends from the bottom of the barrel sounds harsh and rude. But more often than not, is true.
You have to be responsible in life, do your research, educate yourself (lots of resources on base when buying homes, deploying, etc), and plan ahead. Basically, be an adult. Banks will prey, people will prey, but ultimately, you have to be responsible for your finances and your situation. Sucks, but it can happen to anyone, not just military.
Part of this is due to the culture/peer pressure of the military. Not only are your co-workers/bosses/mentors pushing/suggesting you buy a house, but their wives are also urging your wife "to get with the program." Unfortunately, the military is kind of a closed society at times, with its own rules. Having your own home reinforces the concept of you as a stable person, meaning you're more dependable. The thing about the wives is big and very real; many of them like to compare thier husband's careers/lifestyles/choices, as if we were in a contest against one another. At one point, my wife basically told me I was loser, b/c I refused to buy a home in a place I knew we wouldn't be living long-term.
Another major issue is predatory lenders. They target new military transfers. Worse, they've normally heavily infiltrated the base, hiring some of the wives as agents or headhunters. Some of these business "leaders" are even declared "Honorary Commanders", and are escorted around the base a few times a year, being treated like royalty...even though they have nothing to do with the military. We're supposed to act like they're great people, when many are actually taking advantage of us, their clientele.
So, don't be surprised at the high-rate of military members w/mortgage issues. The lenders are unscrupulous salesmen, and thev've lined up the whole system for their pocketbooks, and against the member. FYI, there are agencies at both local and federal levels aware of these practices, and they do NOTHING.
Active duty members who sacrifice, shouldnt ALSO have to sacrifice the security of homeownership. Sorry. When I was enlisted my chief advised me to do as he did, buy a house in each duty station and leave a string of rentals behind you. Retirement savings often times don't surpass the inflation rate, and usually home values increase more than 3%. Only thing is when I got out, I didn't know if I could sell my home to move back home because it was 2009 and I bought in 2007 before the burst hit my area of texas. It seemed like good advice at the time. It worked for my superior officer. So I was really scared about how will I get home to Oregon if my house is upside down when my enlistment is over? Am I stranded in a state I hate because of a morgage? Thank god for loan assumption.
It just sucked that the advice of the more experienced failed me and that the realtor lied and said I could come home with about 10k in profits (before buying I TOLD HIM I'd need to sell it in 2.5 years). 22 is young to buy a house, but nothing to do with service...I needed that 10k too :( lost it. I couldnt rent it out and cover the mortgage either. :(
People commenting seem to be mixing apples and oranges here. There's a huge difference between active duty personnel who either made some dumb decision or had the bad luck of buying in the wrong place at the wrong time, and poor reservists who were pulled out of high paying civillian jobs and forced to deploy multiple times for far less pay.
My husband is active duty. And during the real estate bubble, it seemed stupid not to buy a house. You were practically guarenteed at least a 5% appreciation each year on the value of your home, and you always at the very least broke even, if not made a profit when you sold it. And selling a home was very easy at the time. On one house, we made $40,000. But then we bought a home in Arizona a few years before the bubble burst. Now if we had gotten orders just 6 months prior, we would've literally made $100,000. As it is now, we are underwater on it. Yes, the program to recoup a loss on it still exists, but the market is so glutted, we can't sell it. There is also a program where the government will buy it at its current fair market value, but it has to be on the market for 6 months before they'll buy it. So the choice was let it sit empty 6 months, paying those mortgage payments plus rent at our current location, and then sell it at a loss or try to rent it out. Obviously, the smarter choice was to rent it out, which we have. But even then, we're paying out about $300/month to hold on to it.
All that said, I agree with Ksandra, while it sucks to be us, we aren't any more deserving of a handout than civilians who also happened to buy and need to sell at the wrong time. While I don't think we made an irresponsible decision to buy our house, we did take a risk, and this was the consequence. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep it rented until my husband retires, and then perhaps sell it or even go back and live in it. And of course, we have savings to cover the mortgage in case it goes empty at any time.
But these poor reservists and national guard personnel need and deserve our help. We're not talking about active duty personnel who are squandering the extra money they are getting on top of what they're usually paid when they are overseas. We're talking about reservists with high paying civillian jobs who are yanked out of them and deployed, and then are making in some cases less than half what they were making before. Even the most responsible person with money, cannot ride out that situation forever. While I'm sure many were able to handle one deployment alright, even though it probably drained their savings, as the article says, some of these poor people have been redeployed 3 or 4 times. It's really not fair. While reservists should always be prepared to deploy, they shouldn't be deployed more often than many active duty units have been. And serving their country shouldn't put them in financial ruin.
Part of the reason for this fiasco is during the Clinton years, so many MOS's were moved out of active duty into the reserves. This was done to reduce the size of the military, but to be fair to Clinton, some of them were moved because retention was so bad because these people could make so much more in the private sector. But the unfortunate result is during wartime, there is now no active duty personnel to perform these jobs, so the reservists need to be deployed repeatedly.
Where in AZ?
Predatory lenders
In October 2011, a whistleblower lawsuit was unsealed in a federal court in Atlanta alleging that some of the nation's largest banks and lenders had defrauded veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans.
Among the companies accused in that lawsuit were Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, who were alleged to have engaged in “a brazen scheme to defraud both our nation’s veterans and the United States treasury” of millions of dollars in connection with home loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a result, the suit claimed, tens of thousands of the VA loans have gone into default or resulted in foreclosures.
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IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO FORECLOSE UPON AN ACTIVE-DUTY MEMBER!!!!
But yet = Our US Govt - especially under the Obama Administration - provides FREE HOUSING, FOOD STAMP PROGRAMS, WELFARE BENEFITS, Free CELL PHONES - to the generational welfare culture - and ILLEGAL ALIENS - as DEADBEATS of SOCIETY.
But those serving in the US Military - have their NEEDS ignored.
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Thanks Michelle Obama for focusing on Military Families - as your first order of business - if Barack is elected.
You should have stated - if Barry Soetoro - is elected.
As the usual mode of operating for the OBAMAS - "looting" of The US Treasury - to get their faces before the camera - in their HILTER-esque PROPOGANDA,
The White House spent over $25 MILLION - scripting, planning and buying airtime - for Michelle Obama to have Public Service Announcements - indicating a phone number for US Military families to call - if in need of assistance.
True to form of The Obamas' LIES and DECEIT, the phone number in this PSA was not a working number = "disconnected".
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In an interview on CNN, an active-duty military family with FIVE young children - facing an ILLEGAL foreclosure - exposed that the phone number on Michelle Obama's PSA was not a working number; they had called to the White House - to report the problems they were experiencing w the bank - while the husband was on active-duty; began calling The WH asking to speak to Michelle Obama - but never ever received a phone call or any contact.
This active-duty military family lost their home to an illegal foreclosure - and had to split the kids up - between relatives - bc their family had become homeless.
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Michelle Obama's PSAs were ALL a BUNCH of BULLSHYT - to give the false impression to the American people - that the Obamas were doing something for the US Military families.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2SQUXjxUS8
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But yet, the Public Service Announcements - listing a phone number - for ILLEGAL ALIENS to call to the White House for assistance from Hilda Solis - works quite well.
denver bill2, Obviously you have no clue that you are talking about human beings. Humans have families and people who are dependent on them. Barracks work well for young single people with no dependents. Families/dependents are not allowed and never were allowed to live in barracks. Owning a home is part of the American dream. Are you actually trying to say that home ownership is only for people like yourself who are not willing to defend America?
Fancy Feet,
I was in the reserves for eight years prior to going on active duty for the last eight so I can speak for both aspects of the service. When you sign up for the reserves you know that you can be activated...its not a secret just like on active duty. I weighed the cost, considered the options and CHOSE to sign the dotted line. No one twisted my arm. Many reservists sign up and assume they won't get deployed, but they still signed the contract saying that they would be ready to go if called. Why would someone with a "high" paying job stay in the reserves where if activated they would make significantly less money? I'll tell you why either 1) they want the military benefits ( healthcare etc) or 2) They make equivalent if not more money at their weekend drills than they do at their regular jobs of 3) they need an excuse to have time away from their spouse :-) The problem with all of america is that people do not want to LIVE BELOW THEIR MEANS period! If you have a high paying job, live below your means and pay for your own 'benefits' don't risk being in the reserves where you can be activated and make less. And if you do...plan ahead....but planning ahead also goes hand in hand with living below your means. For all the tales of woe in the military...they are some exceptional kids...WHO LISTEN and attend the financial classes and save their money and are doing well. I know several 24 and 25 year olds who have their own homes and are doing fine. There are homeownership classes available on every base, yet people ignore free knowledge. Why would you purchase a home around bases that are not well established with stable housing markets??? Again, people need to be responsible for their actions.
Another big issue is with banks adding more restrictive requirments to VA mortgages. You're supposed to be able to do a VA IRRRL (streamlined refinance) without providing income or asset documentation and without an appraisal but most lenders now require some type of valuation. Another issue is with the VA cash out refinances where the VA guidelines will allow up to 100% of the appraised value but banks are capping it to 90%.