Very well said, Minna. I love your blog in general, but this one was especially insightful and in agreement with my own thoughts. Individuals typically have higher morals and ethics than banks and other corporations. It may not even make sense to attribute these noble traits to inanimate entities, perhaps only to their actions. I haven't noticed too many banks acting nobly lately. An individual human borrower is at a huge disadvantage when dealing with a bank, if they allow a sense of moral obligation to interfere with what is essentially a business decision, albeit one with emotional baggage attached. If the bank could come out $100K better off by doing something perfectly legal, they would not hesitate. "Fiduciary duty to the stockholders" would be the explanation. It's about time that individuals did the same, and acted with some fiduciary duty to their own financial future and that of their heirs, rather than blindly fulfill to the letter, a mere civil contract which ran into unforseen circumstances due to a national crisis. If gasoline became permanently unavailable tomorrow, I bet some people would continue their car payments until they were bankrupt too, "to save their credit rating" and/or from a sense of moral obligation. Meanwhile, the automakers, autoworkers, car-loan banks and other institutions would be reaping bailouts while the consumer suffers. It's a crime how the credit rating system motivates individuals to make payments which would otherwise be very much against their own interests, and in fact will greatly prolong the financial crisis for the whole country, while businesses get rewarded for failing in a big way. Yes, a captain should be the last off his ship, but regarding a house with a mortgage, especially an upside down mortgage, the bank rather than the homeowner is the real captain. September 21, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Thanks John - and Amen to that...my thoughts exactly. Very well said. I think more and more are coming to this same realization. Its pretty heartbreaking for me to talk to someone who has given up so very very much to "save the home" unsuccessfully, and for what really? What did they really ever have to gain? Now that hope of a quick housing recovery has pretty much dissolved, I do see that more people are starting to approach their situation from a sensible financial viewpoint rather than the so-called moral, responsible one that society and the banks have cast on us. A good half or more of my most recent consultations have been with folks who see where they are heading if they continue and have decided to take a proactive step rather than continue to struggle to stay in their overleveraged home, and I commend them for that. I know that there are those that will look down on me for saying that, or belittle their own friends and family for not trying harder to save their home, but I think it's time many of us looked at our own "investments" the same way the banks look at their own. Thanks for commenting... Minna September 22, 2009 at 4:44 pm