Poll: Majority say Obama mortgage plan is unfair
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/04/art.getty.obama.3.4.jpg
caption="A new national poll suggests that most Americans think the plan is unfair to those who pay their mortgages on time."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - On the day that the Obama administration begins implementing a new program to fight home foreclosures, a new national poll suggests that most Americans think the plan is unfair to those who pay their mortgages on time.
Sixty-four percent of those questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday feel the Obama administration program is unfair to those who pay their mortgages on time. Only 28 percent say that the president's $75 billion plan is fair. More details on the program, which is aimed at helping up to nine million borrowers stay in their homes using refinanced mortgages or modified loans, were released Wednesday.
Americans may not like the plan — but that doesn’t mean they think it’s a bad idea. While nearly two-thirds think the plan is unfair to those who follow the rules, 57 percent say they approve of the package, and 55 percent believe the plan will stabilize home prices.
"Americans don't like to see other people get special treatment, particularly when it comes to money, but they don't like to see others suffer either," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "And unlike federal assistance to auto companies and banks, the Obama mortgage plan appears to benefit individual Americans, typically a more popular option in polls."
The poll also indicates that lenders are getting the lion’s share of the blame for the mortgage mess: 62 percent of those question blame them for the current crisis, to 25 percent who blame borrowers.
The Quinnipiac University poll of 2,573 people was conducted by telephone February 25-March 2, and has a sampling error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
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Rudy,
How do I still have a job because Obama acted fast? The stock market has tanked ever since. Check your facts and come back.
I am fed up with all the bailouts! I want a bail out for doing all the right things and still being screwed by banks, CC companies and the housing mkt. It is totally unfair how those that pay timely cannot get a break just like the dead beats.
The New Ponzi, What do you call a fraudulent loan ? An Obama.
Jump for joy all you want you idiots, this plan just stinks.
It's not selfish and greedy to feel punished for paying your mortgage on time. The "less fortunate" were in fact not "victimized" by their race, gender, physical disability, sexual orientation, etc. They were "victimized" by their own greed. This is a plan that in fact rewards selfishness and greed – it's bailing them out for being stupid, while those who were more restrained are forced to endure the insult by underwriting it.
This is nothing but a political attempt to enable some dysfunctional part of society so they can make them dependent on a caretaker government. Genuinely underprivileged is one thing: enabling greed is an entirely different one.
All you selfish whiners moaning that it is "unfair" to you because you have been able to pay your mortgage on time, must have missed this bit of the plan:
"Homeowners who HAVEN'T missed a payment can refinance into lower-cost loans even if they have little or no equity. This is expected to help up to 5 million homeowners."
There is something in the plan to help just about every struggling homeowner provided they NEED it. Whether they have been making payments on time or not. You people must just really love to complain.
people who made terrible and greedy decisions--if you've done the right thing, you get NOTHING. So suffer-you elected him.
No Andi – this is legalized theft. It's not a question of getting caught. People bought homes and, for whatever reason, are now unable to afford them. So what happens? Money is taken from me and others like me and given to them. In some cases the banks are told that they MUST negotiate new loans for less than what is still owed. Again, this costs those of us who bought what we could afford and and pay our bills.
How do you answer this girl?
She lost her father 4 years ago, 20's, living at home with Mom, working a full time job and going to college full-time. Completed her tax return for 2008 where she paid $4,873 in federal / state employment and income taxes on $22,000 of wages and received a $21 refund.
Her best friend who is unemployed, unmarried with a new baby living in a apartment alone on food stamps and other public support just received an income tax refund of over $6,000.
She asked me "What am I doing wrong?"
Somehow my reply to be patient, that she's doing everything RIGHT, seemed to just echo in the silence afterwards.
There is a reason for bankruptcy and foreclosure laws, USE THEM.
Stop the whining, already!
If they go under, we all go with them.
Get a clue.....
Look, I pay my mortgage on time and I think this plan sucks.
That being said I say this because it directly gives me nothing; indirectly if the irresponsible people who didn't read the fine print or bought a house they couldn't afford get help it might stabilize the prices I I might recoup the 30% value that my house has lost.
Still I am a firm believer (and I hate sounding elitist) that not everyone can own a house in the US. That's the dream not the reality.
We have three types of buyers.
Buyer #1 Purchases a house he can afford, makes his payments and can stay afloat if life changes
Buyer #2 Has money to purchase a house he can afford but the banks offer him a sweet deal on a bigger more expensive house that will come to haunt him once the time period runs out or there are life's changes.
Buyer #3 Can't afford a house but the banks offer him a deal to get him into one anyway.
All but Buyer #1 gets bailed out.The Government uses Buyer #1taxes for Buyer #2 & #3.
The Slick Willy's at the banks get bailed out too!
Why not close down the Banks, let the mortgages fail, and give anything that might be left to Buyer #1. He seems to be the only intelligent one that can get it all together. Help them if they need it due to this economic mess that #2 & #3 put us in. I agree that we are punishing the prudent and rewarding the greedy and stupid!
Isn't this like "Taxation without representation?" Who is representing Buyer #1, the one who is bailing everyone else out?
I've gone down to the HRO and claimed 10 kids, No more taxes from me. I need it to pay MY mortgage so I don't become a welfare home owner like some we are bailing out.
Most of the people requiring new loans were screwed by the predatory lending practices that were being waged due to DEREGULATION, i.e., REGANOMICS. Conservatives are such pigs. It is only welfare until you, yourself need help. This is America. We help each other. I would rather my tax dollars or future deficits go toward helping people who were screwed in this country than rebuild a school in Iraq. Come on people!
Gee, Democrats really are a disgusting bunch, are they not? Can we just have a civil war and be done with them already?
My house is worth twice what I owe on it and I want it to stay that way. Bail out those folks who knew they could not afford it. Then when the market returns make them sell and split the proceeds with the taxpayer.
Tommorow I'm going to buy a house I can't afford, move out of the projetcs, then quit my job (if I even have one, other than pimping or drug dealing), take advantage of all the government give aways, whine and complain about how I'm being discriminated against because I want to have 10 kids while not being married with 10 different people soI can have the government support me because I wasn't responsible for making the mistakes I made. Don't you just love big government???
I am writting on behalf of my daughter. She was paying her mortgage and all was fine until her mortgage bank said they maid a mistake and she owed $6000.00 more on her mortgage nand to pay up or the would start forclosingn procedures on her house which she has lived in for 6 years.
Does any one think that this is fair doesn't she deserve some help? especially when the bank she got her mortgage from is getting alot more help than she is asking for.
Her name is Michele Gilespie and she lives in Neptune City NJ.
I am writting on behalf of my daughter. She was paying her mortgage and all was fine until her mortgage bank said they maid a mistake and she owed $6000.00 more on her mortgage nand to pay up or the would start forclosingn procedures on her house which she has lived in for 6 years.
Does any one think that this is fair doesn't she deserve some help? especially when the bank she got her mortgage from is getting alot more help than she is asking for.
Her name is Michele Gilespie and she lives in Neptune City NJ.
I think we should blame the whole financial crisis on gay marriage.
Life is just not fair, and it never has been. A lot of people can come up with that analysis. I am a single person, no children, I don't own a home, and I work with people who are economically disadavantaged sometimes because of the choices they make, and sometimes because of the world they are born into.
In addition, I have been paying my share of taxes without very many breaks all my adult life (20+ years). I don't have time to whine about fairness. I do what I do for the good of humanity, and I sleep well a night for it. In the next year or so if I can see the wheels of our economy moving again I will be pleased to know that someone out there deserving benefited from the sacrafice, and as long as I am breathing there is still a chance for me to have a little piece of the pie as well...and that is my point; I just want the pie to be there, so I can have a little.
Whining and complaining has never accomplished anything; it doesn't make life any more fairer for any of us, whether we deserve or not.
Reading this article made me sick! 57% believe this to be a good idea, BULL-CRAP! This just follows along with CNN's liberal roots on printing garbage like this and hoping that Americans actually belive it. Not only are us honest, hard working, tax paying, morgage paying, Americans paying for the bail out of the auto industry, the banking groups, but now will be paying for un-educated freeladers because they can even make their house payment on a house they should not even be in in the first place. what's next ,will be required to put their 6 to 12 kids though collage too, because it is not fair that only the privilaged get a higher education...un-believable!!!!
Pissed Off In Texas!
The poll is probably still a bit off when you take into consideration those that want to give the President the benefit of the doubt this early in his administration.
Some of us could see the writing on the wall and sold. Others hoped for the best and watched their homes value dissapear and others just outright lost thier homes becuase of bad governance. and for those who are lucky enought to not be victims of the economy of the coprorate world, they will now become victims of the government.
Sounds to me like all but 9 million Americans will lose on this deal and that's not 28% that said they approve.
Who is John Galt?
The administration should stay out of this and allow the markets to cleanse themselves. The program is utterly unfair. Take someone who, with very modest means, responsibly purchased a home that he/she could afford (whose principal began at less than 31% of his/her income) and applied 20% of their own savings as a downpayment to finance the mortgage. That person did not take an abnormal risk hoping for an abnormal return. That person recognized the abuses of Americans, during the past several years, who took more risk than they should have... and bet that if he/she did the right thing... he/she would win in the long run. This program makes that responsible individual a loser. This is absolutely unbelievable. I lose, not because I did the right thing, but because the government takes my money to bail out those who did the wrong thing. To the argument that my property value will be supported - I would rather my neighbor be the person who wisely waited for value than the person who unwisely chases the Joneses and was bailed out. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
well...if someone gets a decent home and lose job, thus potentially lose home. I don'tmind to help them. But the majority poeple lose home due to excessive life style,: big house you cannot afford to, cerdit card you cannot pay off. An I live my life frugally and becasue of that I have to pay more.
Even so, if you loose your home, it is not the end of the world. Move to aprtment, build your life back up. Learn to be sufficient rather than asking for help ALL the time