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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I see a lot of responses on here blaming the government for the situation we are in now. Well I would just like to remind everyone that we are the ones that sat idle while this was done to our country. Why worry about real issues when you can watch American Galidators and The Bachelor every night. If all of the people posting comments want to find someone to blame you simply need to turn the finger around and point it at yourself or just look into a mirror. The fact of the matter is these things have been happening for a long time and we did nothing to stop it. Don't blame Obama, don't blame Bush, blame yourself for not taking action against a government that has done nothing but take both civil liberty and finance away from you.
When you have an economy with so many offenders and everything is interconnected, you are bound to help the bad along with the good to help the overall mission. There's really no other way to do it, because, whether some of you like it or not, our lives are interconnected, and, as the President put it, we rise and fall together as a nation.
I paid my mortgage on time since day one, but I am not getting $1000 per year for doing so. How in any way is paying somebody to do what they were supposed to be doing in the first place fare? WHERE'S MY $5000 FOR DOING IT RIGHT???:
Looks like all the Messiah's apostles are on this blog. Not too representative of "the majority" apparently. Jonestown...
No! life is not fair! But do we have to have our noses rubbed in it... I pay my bills on time and taxes and everything else on time not because I like too, but because I am responsible for my debt.
Those people that purchased a $150,000.00 house on minim wage and now are complaining that life and the bankers are not fair. that is ridiculous to me.
Be responsible for yourself and stop the "I want it now " Attitude that you have. The "Messiah Obama's" policy will not work ,and will likely take our country down a path that will make our fore fathers spin in their graves like a chicken on a barbecue rotisserie. He is a socialist you know the kind that will say "Lets spread the wealth" not unlike the former soviet union communist parties edict. Our brave men and women who fought for this country and paid for it with their lives in current and past wars only to have democracy replaced by a socialist government have died for what?
I believe that equal opportunity is the way, not equal share of something you didn't earn. Just my two cents....
I think the housing plan is a good idea, but there has to be limits. I think the interest rate should be lowered only to current rates not as low as 2 percent... and the banks should extend the loan for more then 40 yrs. Reduce the rate to a fixed 5% and extend the loan as much as they need to do so the bowwers are paying 31% of their monthy income on the mortgage payment. This way the borrowers are still paying back all the principle.
You guys and gals that couldn't wait to get out vote for someone with the Senate record he had will now live with what he has proposed...and with what our 'distinguished' representatives have rubber stamped. (Hold them accountable next election......!!)
A lot of people are complaining now.....but he told you that he would spread the wealth. What did you think that meant??? Come on!! Use your brains before you cast your vote for anyone. Do research. Don't just vote without having a clue what is coming. He told us. "Spread the wealth.....spread the wealth." You know as well as I do what that means.
I didn't vote for him. I saw through him from the beginning.
boston irish: actually obama didn't support it.
Is it me or are people really as stupid as I am seeing? My husband and I have a mortgage and have comfortably paid it for the past 10 years. But in less than 6 months, due to cutbacks on his job, my husband's overtime reduced his take home pay to half. I didn't get an anticipated raise last year, but we were still making it. I have a chronic disease that I have to undergone chemotherapy for in 2007 and will have to do it again August of this year. My out-of-pocket medications were running more than $800 a month two years ago.
On Christmas Eve last year, we were caught in an ice storm on our way to visit relatives for the holidays. We slid off the highway and flipped over a couple of times into a ditch. I had a broken collarbone but my husband was relatively unscathed. Three weeks ago, my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3B lung cancer. Because of all of this, we will have to let our house go because we can no longer afford it. We have repairs that need to be made that we are not able to get funds for. And guess what? Our payments are still current.
I don't fault anyone for what they may or may not have to do, but people need to stop being so judgmental. If you are able to pay everything on time and you have the money to do it, God bless you and I hope you don't lose your job or get sick. As it turns out, we tried to get a modification before the stimulus, but they weren't doing it then. I'm tired of fighting. I would just as soon go cheaper by renting a house that we can better afford. By this summer, that's exactly what we're going to do.
if i don't make my house payment anymore can i get free gov't money
so i can?
For anyone who thinks they are not being helped by this plan because they paid their bills on time and didn't overextend themselves financially, consider this: if you have neighbors who did not borrow responsibly, and they lose their house in a forclosure, the value of YOUR home will also be affected. Abandoned houses on your street or your neighborhood will lower the value of your house.
I agree on the unfairness about the mortgage adjustments Obama is planning to make for those who are about to lose their homes, however the real impact to those of us who have and continue to pay our mortgages on time the real unfairness is that there are no adjustments made to our mortgages to help us and on top of that he plans to reduce the amount of mortgage interest that we will be allowed when we file our income tax. This is a real gouge on those of us on fixed incomes, retired or disabled.
who cares what the value of the home lowers to. a home is to live in, not an investment.
just like your car, you use it, it loses value.
who cares, my house could be worth a dollar i could care less. don't put all your money into a home. this bailout is the dumbest thing to slap in the face of the ones who are actually responsible and smart enough to live within their means.
There will never be a plan that fits all, serves all and fixes all. As long as the plan does not hurt the ones that think it is not fair and helps a good many, I see no problem. If this plan helps to get our country, Republicans, Democrats or others, back on a course that moves the country forward it must be considered a successful plan.
What the congress needs is less idealists and more realists and a genuine desire on the part of all representatives and senators to move our country forward, not just parts of our country, but the country as a whole.
All will not be fixed in a few months. Give things a little time to work and foget polls. They really do not tell the real truth much of the time.
Look I pay my bills on time before buying food.. so I am not one who will be asking... but what I do know what is happened with the housing market has made us loose the value of our home because others can not afford to pay .. my mortgage is lower than the value.. but others aren't and what happens to them hurts us who are paying. i don't mind them getting help... in the long run it will help me.
People have to open their eyes and stop worrying that someone has more ice cream than they do.. We are in this together... what hurts one will eventually hurt us all so stop begrudging people getting help... that does not mean the guys who are taking a bonus for screwing up..
I believe if we do not do anything that moves this country forward, we are going to be drastically in a worst crisis. I am a contractor and the housing market is worst then you think. I believe 25% of the population loss jobs when the housing market came to a crunch; this would involve mortgage brokers, remodelors ( like me), developers, realtors, investors, bankers, sub-contractors (like plumbers, hvac companies, excavation, ect.). The economics in the housing market is finally leaching into the all of the economy. The answer is create jobs!
Who cares the people that really need the help will never get it from the goverment anyway. I say thow all the bumbs out!
I lost my job in May 2008 and I also receive no help on my COBRA insurance eother. The government does not believe anybody loss their h=job before September 1, 2008 anyway.
I pay my mortage on time never been late in 12 yrs. Yet since I am self employed on papers I dont show that I make what is required. My interest is 7% and I would love to bring it to 5% or lower if possible.
MY bank, Washington Mutual, said that I dont qualify still they get my payment each month for lots of $$.
So you would think that they also know that if I am able to pay on time then FOR SURE, I will more than pay my bill with a MUCH LOwer MONTHLY PAYMENTS which also will save be over 7K
Now with the new Obama plan will I be able to refinance at a lower rates with a lower interest?
Any help out there??
PS – to Obama supporter below
You've had a tough go of it lately. I hope things look up for you and your family and I hope that this program helps you. But you are the atypical case. Most people in this country who get into financial trouble due to mortgage, credit cards or even medical bills are people who live way above their means. If everyone worked 45 hours/week, only had children if they could afford it, lived on 85% of their salary and saved 15% of their salary and did community service things would be different. If people paid off credit cards every month and bought homes no more than 2X their salaries, most bankruptcies wouldn't happen. People would live more modestly but then wouldn't get into trouble when something unexpected happens.
Gosh I read all of this and think what have we come to. I think the people that this should help should be those who have lost their homes or are about to because they lost their jobs or have had major medical debt and had always paid their bills on time prior to that but have come to a situation where they just cant any longer because of these two things. The people who went out knowing their income couldn't support the house they were buying shouldn't get help on this.
I know that home values have declined but they were so OVER inflated to begin with it was scary. Thankfully when we bought our home we were smart about it and didn't do what so many other americans did.
Shame on them for that!
It's not fair that:
people can't find affordable homes,
people were given home loans they couldn't afford,
people are unable to rent an apartment , get a job or obtain a loan because a foreclosure ruined their credit.,
people lost their home because they lost their job because the economy collapsed.
No it's not fair. So stop making your mortgage payments and face the consequences. I guarantee that you will know you're being treated unfairly.
I don't have a house. So why should I pay for someone else to own one?
This virtually stinks! My wife and I have paid off our mortgage, yes, that's right, paid it off! We have lived within our means and did not go out and get drowned in a 'jumbo loan' or an ARM. We lived within our means. It's about time Americans stop living beyond their means and be content with the necessities and not their wants! taxes being used to fund this are basically "robbery" from those of us who act and live responsibly! Amen!
If we as a nation are going to pay the downside for these bad mortgages, we ought to stand to gain when they appreciate again. The public policy is not about making people whole; it's about avoiding even more financial and economic meltdown. There's plenty of pain to go around, but it ought to be clear that we'll help those who are overextended but still treat people who were careful in a fair way.
Instead of giving these corrupt bankers and auto execs, among others, over two trillion dolars of "our" money to pay for their "waste and mismanagement", the government should have given taxpayers that money. It would have been spent on servicing the bad credit that we just bought from the banks, and they would have bought products and services which would have supported the entire economy. As it is the top one percent of the elite are hoarding that cash for their own use there by starving the larger economy. Good work Mr. President et al, I must say even though they are happy to see him fail, I must agree with the reptilians when they slam these actions by the admin. Once again, I am an independant so the whole thing is a huge joke to me anyway, good luck everyone!