Quote from CaptainObvious:
You miss the point. It's not that Joe and Jane Lunchbucket have lost their big home, boat and car. It's the fact that those that orchestrated this scam still have their big home, boat and car that galls people. You gamble and lose, so be it. But this heads I win, tails I still win bullshit has got to go.
I agree. Succinctly stated.
Both parties were equally at fault, but only one side had/has to suffer for this mess.
Quote from CaptainObvious:
Com'on man, get a wee bit of intellectual honesty. Everybody just came to you, unsolicited? Bull fucking shit. The scammers were relentless with direct mail, telemarketing, and other forms of advertising to solicit business. Then they knowingly hustled the ignorant in to what they knew was a bad deal in the long run.
Listen, I'm not saying that those that took the loans have no responsibility, they do. The ones that promoted the bad deals also have some responsibility for running the hustle. Instead it's just on to the next scam, and to add insult to injury, they want a government loan to ramp it all up again.
Funny you mention that. I got a letter yesterday in the mail that implied it was from the VA...plain white envelope with the perforated tamper proof seal, etc...even had the disclaimer of something like $500,000 penalty and/or 5 years imprisonment for misuse, etc.
I was sitting here like "fuck I am about to get recalled or some shit" and open it up...it's a fucking VA refi offer. The entire letter was set up to look like official VA correspondence. Only in extremely tiny print did it say they were a Federal Savings Bank, but even at that point, they worded it so it sounded as if they were the bank for the VA or something.
Definitely the best attempt at a scam loan advertisement I've seen thus far. Most just try to get you hyped up for a refi...this made it sound official, etc.
I only read it in the first place to make sure I wasn't getting recalled or hadn't been identified as someone who got a bad Anthrax vaccination strain or something lol, but many people are out there and could be taken advantage of by this shit.
Bank make shit tons of profit on discount points, etc on these VA loans and they are way less risky because they are backed by the gummint. They LOVE to make VA loans.
I just thought it was a good example of the kind of thing you were pointing out in your post.
Not everyone got into trouble for their greed, lots of people got ripped off by lenders misrepresenting themselves.
Granted, in the end, it's still the buyers responsibility to make the decision and perform due diligence...but still...that kind of scam work is a little over the top and should be punished.