Who’s to blame

The March 18 front page of The Province had a story regarding B.C. home owners losing their houses due to the subprime mortgage fiasco in the U.S.

It appears that the couple, Tamara and Matt Pirillo, who’s photo appeared in The Province cover story bought their five-bedroom home five years ago for $114,000 but now owe the U.S. based subprime lender, Accredited Home Lenders, a total of $140,000. Why? Because they have a questionable mortgage, borrowed against the equity in their home and now owe more than it’s probably worth.

They decided to sell and listed the house on the market for $215,000 but it, oh so surprisingly, didn’t sell in the weak real estate market. Good timing folks. It’s now listed at $169,000.

Are we supposed to feel sorry for these people? I don’t. In the space of five years they borrowed money to buy a home, borrowed more money against the equity and now can’t afford to pay their mortgage and are looking for someone to bear the weight of their bad decisions.

Who’s fault is that? This is indicative of the devastating economic climate we find ourselves in at the moment, all due to greedy lenders and ignorant borrowers who both have their hands out looking for ‘help’.

I’ve never borrowed money from any lender in my entire life without knowing exactly how the loan works, how much it will cost me and how I plan on paying the money back. I read and understand the contract given to me by the lender rather than just hoping it would all work out somehow and I’ll be able to live up to my end of the bargain.

Why are we, the long suffering tax payers, once again responsible for people’s ignorance and/or blatant stupidity? I, for one, am sick of it and suggest that Mr. and Mrs. Pirillo can deal with the mess they’ve got themselves into without looking to the government (you and I) to bail them out.

Read The Province story HERE.