Better Mortgage Info Needed

As a flux of exotic mortgages come due, congressional investigators are learning that more information is needed for consumers before a mortgage is given. Ideas and proposals are being discussed for informational programs.

During the recent housing boom, exotic mortgages were often the only way homebuyers could afford the inflated amounts they had to pay for their dream home. Most of the buyers were not fully aware of what an exotic, or adjustable, mortgage was or what it entailed. As the fixed rate periods of many of these mortgages come due, homeowners are realizing what they got themselves into, and are upset that their options were not explained fully.

Congressional investigators agree that more information needs to be available to borrowers as they consider exotic mortgages. While the products are not the demons that the media is making them out to be, they should only be used in a few specific cases, and only if the homeowner is completely versed in the ins and outs of the loan. Disclosures, pages upon pages of information required by the government when obtaining a mortgage, only do so much to keep a borrower informed. Many times the disclosures are in legal speak, making the information hard to understand. The GOA is now trying to come up with documents and programs that would fully explain the loans to all potential borrowers.\r\n