Times are tough all over

[Aliantha]

I think you have a very biased view towards ARM's tw. Long term variable rate loans can be a big advantage if you take out your loan while rates are high. Then during the normal course of economic cycles, rates drop, and you find that the loan you could afford before, now becomes a breeze and you pay your loan off quicker.

If however, you take out a high mortgage when rates are low, not leaving yourself room for rate increases, you deserve what you get imo.

The problem is, banks allow people to take out a mortgage they can afford today without thought to what they can afford tomorrow. If people are too stupid to realize what's coming down the road, whose fault is that? The lender that knows? Or the borrower who's ignorant? Some say that ignorance is not excuse. I agree. If you're going to borrow money from anyone, you should know how you're going to pay it back.