Walking away from your house/mortgage

If you're seriously asking this question before getting married, you owe it to your wife not to fuck up her finances by marrying her...now. Sorry, but that's the best way I can put it. You need to figure out your financial life before you get married. Period.

 

Stop giving good advice, damn you.

 

This can't affect her credit because his debt of his existed prior to the marriage (at least this is true in California and most or all states). His spouse can't be held liable for his pre-existing debts, nor will it affect her personal credit score UNLESS she co-signs on anything or has any joint accounts/applications. Obviously, of course, it's better not to have to worry about this issue, but it doesnt have to hurt her credit, etc. What you have to watch for, though, is if she's the only one who can get credit, and so she gets overloaded with debt, etc., because she's borrowing for two, that could hurt her credit score.

 

Man, what city are you living in where there are houses for $3k? You gotta be downtown right?

 

I feel badly that you find yourself in this situation, but I think it's a crock to sit there and say "fuck the moral obligation" just because washing your hands of your obligation happens to suit you at this time. Like Ragu said, what would be your reaction if you didn't have any of these life-changing events happen to you and the bank came calling one day and wanted the full repayment now, or wanted to jack up your interest rates?

The bank didn't tell you to buy a house in a high-crime area (and I'm betting the area didn't magically turn into a high-crime area after you moved in), and it's probably not the bank's fault that you lost your job and had to take a pay cut. The bank did what they said they would do when entering into the mortgage agreement with you. If you don't want to be adult enough to live up to your obligation when you signed that mortgage agreement, then admit that's the case. It's not your fault the property values in the area plummeted. But it's not the bank's fault, either.

This sounds like it's completely a question of convenience, where you want it to go away so things will be easier on you. How much money can we be talking about, if the house next door sold for $3,000? It's an easy excuse to try and blame the "Wall Street big wigs" because it takes the focus away from you defaulting on an obligation. What exactly did those "Wall Street big wigs" do that put you in this situation?

 

If the mechanisms were in place legally and contractually for the bank to do this, and the bank saw profit in it, would they stop because of some imaginary moral obligation?

 

"Wall Street big wig" Morgan Stanley walked away from five buildings in San Francisco.

People who get on their high horse and preach the moralities of business need to step down. This is a business decision that failed. If he wants to walk, he can walk. Corporations restructure debt all the time.

This is a reorganization.

When banks were changing terms of the credit card agreements midstream, did the banks act morally?

 

This is horseshit. You sound like a collection agent who harasses people over credit card charges that they dispute.

As has been pointed out by many people many times, this was a business deal. The consequences of backing out of it are clear in the contract. Unfortunately for the bank, its risk went bad -- and that is entirely what mortgage rates are based on, the amount of risk the bank is willing to take on in order to make the loan. That's why I can get a low low rate and my brother would have to pay interest charges twice as high, because I have great credit and his sucks. But for five years there was absolutely no governance of that risk on the banks' part as they opened the vault for anyone and everyone. Bad decision.

Now the bank will have a house to do with what it pleases, and our poster will have bad credit that he has to contend with. My guess is that sinking $50,000 into a losing investment will damage his financial situation more than taking the seven-year ding to his credit. But that's for him to decide.

If the past five years have taught us anything, particularly in our business, it is this: Take care of you and yours.

 

Exactly. It's a business decision. One with consequences, because you lose a home, but still a business decision. Let's say you stay and a bunch of meth labs set up shop in the surrounding houses. Not a likely scenario, but for the sake of debate, it happened. Then is it morally right for leaving?

if GM and Chrysler don't have to pay all of their debt, why should anyone else?

 

I truly don't understand why someone thinks anyone has a moral obligation to a bank.

 

Why can't you default? It's not illegal to do so, either.