As interest rates keep rising and housing prices stagnate, and as Americans' indebtedness continues to grow and their savings dwindle, it's become clear that some homeowners should have ignored the guidance of their friendly neighborhood lender.
Too many Americans have said "Supersize me" at the McMansion counter and are now regretting it.
U.S. households increased their borrowing by an annualized rate of $1.4 billion in the first quarter, up from $1.2 billion in the previous quarter – by one measure the second-largest increase on record.
The American Bankers Association says property improvement loan delinquencies rose, as did late payments on home equity lines of credit for a fifth consecutive quarter.
What to do?
Because most new debt in recent years has come from people tapping their home equity, it seems fitting to go straight to the source for advice – a lender.
I've long said that many fly-by-night lenders will perish when the housing bubble pops, leaving a legacy of harmed families in their wake.
Pulaski Mortgage's Dallas president, Craig Jarrell, on the other hand, will survive this cycle and others to come, since he's valued by his clients for exercising prudence, for helping them not just buy a home but keep it.
When asked how he would design a financial diet for a homeowner, he suggested a three-step process:
1. "Stop charging now. Direct any and all excess income to paying off credit card debt." Maybe use a consolidation loan and then cut up the cards.
2. Drive your old car for longer, so you can go a few years without a car payment.
3. Use savings from the reduction of those two sources of debt to pay down principal on your mortgage.
"If you do all of these things, you can actually start to accumulate savings," Mr. Jarrell added.
If you are thinking about buying a home, save the money you need to put at least 5 percent down on the purchase. If that's impossible, then buy a smaller home.
How small? Mr. Jarrell advises buyers to cap their mortgage payments at 25 percent of their income.
"If you make $5,000 a month, don't have a $2,000 or $3,000 mortgage; keep it at $1,200 to $1,500, especially if you're a young couple," he said. "Why max out your house payment? What happens if one of you loses your job?"
Of course, all of this defies what advertisers are urging you to do: "Buy a bigger home!" "Get that space you need today!" "Refinance now!"
Rest assured, the lending tools are still out there to help you achieve these "goals." But they might also bring you closer to what Mr. Jarrell calls "financial suicide." We're talking about many adjustable-rate mortgages or, worse yet, loans that let you skip payments.
"There's absolutely no reason to do an adjustable-rate mortgage in this environment of low fixed interest rates," Mr. Jarrell said. "And there's never a right reason for not making a payment on your house."
Maybe we should think of a financial diet as we do a regular diet. If we never gain the weight, we never have to work to lose it.
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