HELOC Stories

Found this article about the Top 5 Most Ridiculous Mortgage Borrowers Stories of 2007 . My favorite story was number 5 on the list -

Jeffrey and Vanessa Hahn bought a $475,000 house in 2004 using an adjustable rate mortgage and took out a significant home equity loan not long afterwards. In September of 2006, the interest rate on the main mortgage reset, causing the payment on their main mortgage to increase from $2,200 per month to $3,700 per month.

In March of 2007, the couple got a cash-out refinance to the tune of $570,000 even though the required monthly payments equaled their monthly take-home pay. Needless to say, they never made a payment on the loan and lost their home to foreclosure.

When the San Francisco Chronicle profiled the Hahns, Jeffrey said he was 'shocked' by the number of hate comments that were generated.

'I just don't get how these people can judge me like this and think we completely took advantage of the system. The system took advantage of us,' Hahn was quoted as saying.

For some reason the number 1 story had the least info involved. Sounded like it was just a tirade against some blogger. Story 2 has been making the rounds for some time - about the strawberry picker making $15,000 per year purchasing a $750,000 house. The third story had the heart-tugging background of a recent widow felling taken advantage of by her mortgage company but it turned out she had financed seven times over the years. Story 4 was about a grandparents who bought their house for $97,000 in 1977 and took over $600,000 out in equity and could not make the payments anymore on their social security.