Foreclosures Affecting Lifestyles of the Middle Class
October 8th, 2008
Foreclosures are badly affecting the lifestyles of the middle class. Since getting married in 2003, Kim Shekerlian and Stan Monterrosa have led a comfortable life. The couple own their own house in Granada Hills, the loan on their two cars have been cleared and dining out is quite common for them. Now they are planning to put their little daughter into a pre-school.Behind this apparent show of middle class comfort they have slipped deeper and deeper into debt. Their days run from one payday to another. Every month they are short by $380.
There are many others like Kim and Stan who are in the same boat. The original fault started with the sub-prime mortgages that led to landslide foreclosures. Now the credit crunch has become a global problem. American families can no longer borrow to keep life well oiled and running as of yore.
The Bush government is hopeful that the $700 billion rescue package will once more give a push to banks lending to banks. This is the first move in making available credit for the consumer. But even Bush had to admit that it might be months before the effect will be felt. David Shulman of UCLA bluntly stated that the immediate future is not good. He said that since the country is in the middle of a credit crisis, lenders are now extremely shy of granting loans. Without credit the economy will get strangled.
Even with two jobs the foreclosure related credit crisis is making it impossible for Kent and Stan to cope with mounting unpaid bills. The bills just keep piling up as they look helplessly at their two-year-old daughter, Alysa. Their joint income amounts to $4,600 per month. From rent they collect another $500. But that does not enable them to pay all their bills. Like other Americans they started off with a small debt but soon the credit culture got the better of them and their lifestyle. Habits die hard. Even now they cannot stop splurging in dining out.
When the couple started their new life together the economy was upbeat. The housing boom was on full swing and interest rates were low. Apart from the house in Granada they bought a condo in Florida. But unable to manage with rising mortgages they tripped and the unit was foreclosed upon. Now they are focusing on their Granada house and always afraid that with inflation and unemployment on the increase this too might be gobbled up by foreclosure.
- Fewer Foreclosures Among Low-cost Brooklyn Homes
- Bank of America is a Lagging Behind in Loan Modifications to Prevent Foreclosures
- The Aftermath of the Housing Boom is Followed by Foreclosure Doom in Homestead
- Lenders Being Legally Challenged for Activating Predatory Lending
- Foreclosures Have Made Life for CEO’s Expensive and Fraught With Fear
- With Foreclosures and Unemployment Continuing it is Doubtful if Recession is Over
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May 25th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
[...] for the government to take the pro-consumer steps. With homeowners faltering on loan payments, then foreclosures could become a regular [...]