Comments on: Santa Isn’t Coming This Christmas Because There Isn’t Any Home Equity to Tap Into

By: Phyncglyncned

Phyncglyncned — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:25:02 +0000

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By: Private Equity Partner

Private Equity Partner — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:27:41 +0000

I totally agree that pullling equity out of your home to finance other goods is completly irresponsible use of money. However, who is advising this? Surely someone should have advised AGAINST doing so instead of letting her continue.

Hopefully people will learn from this, i have from my parents that sweated to scrimp and save to pay off their debts first.

By: Webomatica

Webomatica — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:21:10 +0000

Yep this one really strikes a nerve. It seems there is a large group of people that doesn’t see debt as anything to get worked up over – as long as you can handle the payments. The total amount of debt is irrelevant and there’s “good” and “bad” debt.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:33:02 +0000

[...]Check out this great post by Jeremy at Generation X Finance entitled Santa Isn’t Coming This Christmas Because There Isn’t Any Home Equity to Tap Into.[...]

By: escapee

escapee — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:07:47 +0000

I feel bad for these folks, but they brought it on themselves.

I can’t tell you how many times I have asked my husband, “What do all these people DO to have the money to buy these huge houses, new cars, etc? They can’t ALL be doctors and lawyers!”

My income puts us supposedly in the top 5%, but our house is nowhere near being as big/new as most of the houses in our region. We also don’t have a lot of new cars, expensive possessions, etc.

It turns out the answer to my question is that they *didn’t* have the money for it all and now is their day of reckoning…

By: Rehoboth Realtor

Rehoboth Realtor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:46:20 +0000

I guess I’m fortunate in that I paid my mortgages off two years ago before all this mess started. I was lucky in that I had been saving money for three years and I got a profit sharing dividend from a company I wrote software for and instead of blowing the money on things like clothes, cellphones, ipods, a sirius sattelite system and other stuff I would have blown the money on before, something made me decide to go “debt free” and use the money to pay everything off. It was a good decision…

One thing that always bugged me when I was working in a corporate office was other employees who alway griped about not having enough money but they walked into work every morning with a $7 cup of Starbucks and a couple of egg mcMuffins, etc and then went to lunch and spent another $10-$15. they never get it that those incedentals at $20 per day add up to car payment per month…. not to mention most of them smoked a pack or two a day, went to concerts and bars all the time but they want you to feel sorry when they’re broke.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:51:17 +0000

Like plonkee, and others, I feel sorry for people in this situation. She’s probably trying to do Christmas with gifts because she wants her loved ones to be happy. It’s a sad thing too, because she may not know how to throw a cheap and happy Christmas…

By: Fecundity - Link Roundup

Fecundity - Link Roundup — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:05:33 +0000

[...]Generation X Finance posts about a CNN article on a woman in Nevada who is in danger of losing her house, apparently due to repeatedly [...]

By: Fecundity

Fecundity — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:37:33 +0000

I feel bad for people in this situation because it’s an unfortunately harsh consequence for their mistakes. However, unless they were actually swindled by someone, they only have themselves to blame.

Ms. Castleberry needs to be talking to her lender and perhaps to a debt counsellor. If she no longer has a large family living with her, it looks like it’s time to downsize out of that four bedroom house. The author of the post seems to be right about her falling behind on her payments before the rates were hiked.

By: The Financial Blogger

The Financial Blogger — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:14:52 +0000

I don’t feel bad for those people unlike Plonkee. It’s up to them to get their finance on track and stop expecting to get more money from their house. Then, they will blame mortgage brokers? That’s too easy.

Who should I blame if I have a car accident? Ford for inventing the car? You would never run into a deadly accident if we would have stayed with horses after all. Who should I blame if I become an alcoholic? Budweiser?

People have to take some level of responsibility from their actions. Taking from granted that you could borrow against your house to finance your daily living is totally stupid. You are destroying your net worth. It only shows poor money management. These people don’t need more money, they need to know how to follow a budget.