The dust has settled and its painfully clear that a mortgage system built on complexity, confusion and greed led to the housing collapse and the worst economic set-back since the Great Depression. But has the dust settled? Is the mortgage madness over? Have things changed for the better?

We’re Making the Same Mistakes

Despite the painful consequences brought on by toxic mortgage debt, the system continues to invite consumers to make the same mistakes. Pestilent adjustable rate mortgages continue to be written – certain to wreak havoc on the American household once inflation takes root. The government, through the Federal Housing Administration, has become the new subprime lender, making broke people go broke with its so-called “affordable housing” mortgage programs. Although many of the most brutal mortgage products have been pulled from the shelves, our distress hasn’t brought transparency to the mortgage industry.  Mortgages continue to be sold on payment and homeowners attracted to today’s low rates are being taken to the cleaners because it’s still so easy for the mortgage salesperson to stick it to them. Worse yet, low mortgage rates – designed to incent refinance activity and spur consumer spending – has homeowners extending their mortgage debt well into their retirement years.  Spending today at the expense of tomorrow isn’t going to heal our economy.

A Mortgage is Simply a Pile of Money.

A mortgage is just a pile of money. So why all the complexity? Because the industry wants it this way. Mortgages are priced as a commodity through the entire supply chain, with the exception of the interface with the consumer.  Then things get tricky – and hidden within an intricate yet intelligent design is a pricing system that allows mortgage companies to cleverly skim thousands from unwary consumers. Transparency is purposefully and intentionally withheld in order to prevent the sort of razor-thin profit margins that are commonplace when a company sells a commodity. Since there is no difference between mortgage products from one lender to the next, industry participants manufacture differentiation where there isn’t any.  This exposes patrons to gimmicks and slick sales pitches that are designed to detract attention from what really matters – the price you’ll pay to obtain a new mortgage rate.

Housing Meltdown Number 2

An extended period of record low mortgage rates fueled an over-heated housing market that eventually went down in flames – the torch was lit the minute mortgage rates began to climb in 2006.  By 2007, the stage was firmly set for a nation-wide catastrophe; although everyone referred to the trouble then at hand as the subprime mortgage crisis.

Here we are in the post housing boom period, in a deep recession, and rates have been kept artificially low by the $1.25 trillion dollar Federal mortgage purchase program that ended in March 2010. Mortgage rates have inched up slightly since the program ended, keeping another wicked storm at bay – for now.  But what will happen when the inevitable occurs?

If you survived housing meltdown number 1, will you survive the lesser known, not as extravagant, yet equally frightening sequel? If you successfully navigate this horrid financial landscape, what are your long-term prospects of becoming mortgage free? Will it ever end?

A Sound Mortgage = A Sound Economy

Strong families make for a strong country – families serve as the cornerstone of our society. Likewise, strong household economies add up to a strong national economy – household financial strength is the cornerstone of our economy.

Given the size of the obligation and the significance of the asset it encumbers, it stands to reason that sound mortgage debt will make for a sound economy. And for things to be sound in the long run, that means we must manage our mortgages and pay them off at some point.  Yet America remains in bondage to her debts – both her citizens and the government that serves them.

Empowering Consumers

It is clear consumers must not rely on the government or business to empower them to make wise financial choices. And if we’re going to lay blame, a lot of us need to look squarely in the mirror before casting stones.  The free market operates as it should – wherein business seeks to make a profit and consumers are free to decide which goods to purchase and are, in the end, responsible to properly manage their household finances.

Mind Your Own Mortgage changes the mortgage game – putting homeowners in charge. By imparting insider information and providing powerful tools, the book allows homeowners to:

• Shop with confidence – an exclusive, automated shopping system forces commodity price presentation, legitimizing the transaction by taking all the gimmicks out of the sales pitch and allowing the buyer to decide on price.
• Refinance only when it makes economic sense for you – not for the mortgage company.
• Eliminate their mortgages in record time.

Newly empowered homeowners can now proclaim victory over their mortgage debt, so they can own their homes instead of allowing their homes to own them.

Igniting a Consumer-Led Change

If consumers are to come out of this recession better for it, they must assume command of their household finances – including their mortgages. Obtaining knowledge and acting on it will allow homeowners to bring about meaningful change, forcing mortgage providers to grant them what they deserve – clarity, simplicity and transparency.

Mind Your Own Mortgage exists for a single purpose – to change what consumers have been led to believe about mortgages, which will ignite a consumer-led transformation of the mortgage industry.

It’s Time for a New Deal.

Doing things the old way isn’t going to cut it. It’s time to radically alter the way consumers think about and manage their most significant debt.  It’s time to stand up and be counted as one of those in the know. No more games – it’s time for us to deal a straight deck of cards.

IT’S TIME TO MIND YOUR OWN MORTGAGE.