Just a second: huge numbers of replies to this message, and so far all I have seen missed your error. 'Responsible for repaying' does not mean 'there is no situation imaginable where you will not complete your obligation.' Being responsible and honorable means only that you will do so until the debt is repaid. If you die or are otherwise unable to pay, that is a separate consequence, and is no part of your attitude toward paying. Or, look at it this way: you are being honorable if you pay all the debt, as long as you can do so physically (not financially, which is all the law seems to require). That means you have not treated the debt as someone else's problem, or unrealistic, or some failure of the creditor's. If you cannot afford a house, but you agree to a mortgage for one that you know you cannot actually pay off, then you have been dishonorable. (Yes, that means a lot of buyers were dishonorable in the last couple decades. Is there any other way to see it? Owning your own house is neither necessary nor obligatory, but I have only heard people excuse the problem as though society and the banking industry all agreed everyone has to own their own home.)
Mitch [from mePad] On Oct 21, 2010, at 6:05 AM, "Dan Minette" <danmine...@att.net> wrote: > > . But, there was always a possibility that I'd be > hit by a devastating illness after the mortgage went under water, so that it > would be impossible to sell the house for enough to pay the mortgage and it > would be impossible to keep up payments. > > . I figured the interest rate I was charged was > figured to include covering people in that situation. > > Given that, do you consider it dishonorable for me to have taken out a > mortgage? If so, then what fraction of loans are ethical? It seems to me > that it is nearly impossible, even if you had the money in the bank to cover > the loan if, to take out a loan where there wasn't an improbable set of > circumstances that would cause you to default on the loan. > > Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
