re: Is "walking away" from a mortgage wrong?

quote:

---

But if you walk away from a deal you made just because it doesn't benefit you any more, you show yourself to be someone who can't, and shouldn't, be trusted again going forward.

---

that's KIND OF the whole point of your credit rating being fricked for 5-10 years after walking away

that cost should be calculated into the costs of walking away (it is the main one)

and that's not moral...that's a calculation of numbers and nothing more

quote:

---

It's no different than when interest rates go up to 7 or 8% the bank says well, this 3.5% loan doesn't make economic sense for us anymore, so we're calling it, please pay in full within 30 days or get out.

---

But it is different. Mortgage contracts only allow the lender to call the loan if the borrower defaults or if the borrower lied to get the loan.

Mortgage contracts allow for the borrower to default whenever he pleases. The borrower just has to suffer the consequences of that default.

quote:

---

A deal is a deal and when you're on the wrong side of one, clean it up as quickly as you can without breaking your word and try to learn from it.

---

But you didn't give your word. You pledged your home as collateral in case you defaulted.

quote:

---

That said, if major variables change, such as job loss, illness or some other catastrophic situation

---

A lot of people in this thread have stated something along these lines. "Walking away is wrong unless {insert horrible life event} happens." I find this very problematic. How do you know who's hardship is "bad enough"?

If someone loses a job, who's to say that person can't hustle and make enough money to pay the note? If I'm ill, whose to say I don't have the skills to earn income from my home?

Whose to say that the lender has the right to force me to be employed on their terms?

We have contracts to avoid this kind of ambiguity. I said in my first post here that morality has no place in these matters. Life would be a nightmare if disputes were resolved based on what we collectively feel is right and wrong.