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These loans are aggressively marketed, often contain undisclosed fees, downright fraud, and other illegalities. I don't consider it a bailout to inform people of their pre-existing legal rights, and I don't consider it a bailout to allow borrowers to restructure their loans when there are improprieties in origination.

A large percentage of these subprime foreclosures are against elderly citizens. Many of them already owned their homes free and clear of any liens or mortgages, or have large amounts of equity, but were aggressively marketed to because lenders saw them as easy prey. I've seen a legal aid attorney take on a case where the client was an elderly woman with Alzheimers and was sold a 1% mortgage product -- unfortunately, that interest rate lasted only ONE DAY and proceeded to eat up her home equity.

Subprime products include not just original loans, but refinancing, second mortgages, reverse mortgages, and all other kinds of products designed to strip equity. It's nonsense to say these deals involve homeowners with little equity -- that's precisely the point for many lenders, to target equity and capture it with aggressively marketed products containing fees, exploding rates, and offering little benefit to the homeowner.

What many of you seem to be implying is that if you aren't as financially savvy as Mike from Manchester you deserve to be reduced to homelessness. That's a society that caters to predators, and that's not a society I want to live in. I'll pay taxes if it means we don't toss society's most vulnerable citizens to the vultures. Moreover, the funds described in the article are mostly from private-sector banks, not tax dollars. These banks establish these refinancing funds pursuant to settlements entered into because they knew they were legally culpable in this mess.

This is not pure bleeding heart sentiment -- in a market driven in huge part by consumer spending, what happens when you allow the most powerful to strip the assets of the most vulnerable?

Some of you are thinking short, when you should be thinking long.
- Joe, Concord

I have no symapthy for anyone that got in over their head.

Its not that hard to figure out the difference between a fixed rate and an adjustable rate.

I am barely educated and could figure that out when I decided to buy my own home.
- Morgan, Goffstown

Most of the posts here bash any financial benefit to individuals who took out sub-prime mortgages. Make no mistake about it; government efforts are a financial bailout of financial institutions/banks. As a side effect individuals might be helped. You might think, “Well how cynical.” I am not being cynical. Follow the money….

Individuals who took advantage of sub-prime mortgages might lose ‘their’ house. This is a terrible thing, but most of these individuals bought the house with very little if any money down and have made payments of primarily or all interest. They do not have any equity in the house and generally have paid less than they would have to rent the same house. The pain they feel is not a financial one, it is one of being displaced, etc. The government proposals are financial in nature. One way or another any government funds are going to the financial institutions that took the risk, albeit a poorly calculated risk, in making the mortgage.

This is one of many recent subsidies to businesses. Each year our government seems more loath to spend to protect the liberties of citizens than to subsidize poorly run companies. Are all banks in this situation? No. The proposals are to help the more poorly run banks, banks that took high risk, lost and are now whining and have their hands out. Let free markets weed out the weaker companies and allow the strong to survive. Every government action like this hurts our economy by subsiding/encouraging irresponsible business decisions.

If the government only lends money, versus offering a subsidy, then they are only contributing to inflation. Either way, whatever government does financially hurts the economy in the long run. The less it does financially the better for the United States.
- Peter Sorrentino, Manchester

Ummm, I think if you can't afford a home mortgage you need to think about downgrading and move into something you can afford!! Thank god my mortgage is paid off and I dont need to go anywhere for help!! Leave it up to some people to cry for help and raise everyone else's taxes because they can't afford their home!! MOVE.
- JS, Methuen, MA

I was in an adjustable mortagage and went into a fixed. I could afford my home, my husband is 65 and I am 60. Raymond's taxes have doubled since I bought my home. Perhaps, taxes are also a driving factor in people having there homes foreclosed on. Come on Raymond 7$,000 for taxes and probably still rising for what. School taxes are about 3,700 or so. As senior citizens we paid our share while our children were in school. I believe when you become a senior school tax should be eliminated from your taxes. How do you expect seniors to hold on to their homes.
- Linda, Raymond, NH

I love all the high and mighty here who are quick to blame anyone who finds themselves in a tight spot with todays economy. I bought my house in 2001 and since then my Oil prices have almost tripled in cost not to mention gas and electricity. Oh yeah I also have to pay 1400 a month in child care just to clear another $600 from my wifes job. Not everyone has gone out and bought a home that is beyond their means, some of us have had everything else get more expensive and our salaries have not grown with the expenses. Watch out when throwing those stones from your glass homes/apartments.
- Ray, Windham

I feel badly for those in the 'housing pinch' but like Mike of Concord I don't feel that the taxpayers or the government owe them anything. As a consumer I have to read the things that I sign and I do. Remember, caveat emptor.
- Tom, Dover-Foxcroft, Me.

This whole situation has made me lose faith in America. For the past few years I have been saving money, just so I could buy a home one day. I could have bought something in 2005, but I knew the prices were inflated. So I didn't take out a loan that would have put in me in way over my head, just so I could buy something decent. Shame on me. I should have known the US would bail me out for my greed.
Now, I'm in situation where, despite having a credit score of 800 and household income of over 80k, I can only qualify for loans which let me look at "certain FHA approved properties".
What programs do you have for people like myself Senator? For the honest, hard working, responsible people who knew better. Why should we have to pay the price, with loan restrictions and higher taxes, because of the mistakes of others? What has America become? A welfare state the rewards greed and stupity, but punishes modesty and thoughtful planning.
- Dave, Concord

So, I had a bad year, worked an extra job to pay my bills and now drive a crappy car, and learned the value of a dolloar. Where's my handout? I know where it is...I don't expect one!

Be responsible, stop whinning and make it work!
- Jill, Manchester

Look, you sign a mortgage, you should read and understand what you're signing. To bail these clowns out would be nothing more than to reward ignorance. They got into this mess through their own fault - they should live with the consequences.
- Brian, Farmington

Rick in Manchester, if you were making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and living in Manchester, then you should have a sizeable nest egg. Pardon me for really having no sympathy for you and your wife who once made hundreds of thousands of dollars and now you are making a pittance of $100,000 per year together. Please. I hear the world's smallest violin playing a sad song for you. Try making less than $100,000 per year...together...and raising a family, paying taxes, paying for a mortgage etc. for the last 10 years or so. Those of us that wrk aren't complaining. Instead, we are working that much harder. The longer you complain, the longer it will take to reach your goal. So, reach your goal, then complain...you will get there alot faster.
- Mike, Manchester

What everyone of you needs to realize is that although you are good in your house whenever a foreclousure occurs it will have a negative effect on your home value and the local tax base,just as all the home values rose together so shall they fall!
I wanted to attend this meeting but got bad information from the HIPPO - they published a Sunday, March 9th meeting date.
- K Law, Manchester

Joe in Manchester:

"Other, huger wastes of money" is correct English usage. (The truth of the point is more important than the grammar anyway.) Try reading more carefully!
- Beth Armstrong, Manchester

Here is a link to a sub-prime mortgage primer being passed around local loan offices. You may find it interesting:

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1
- Glenn Fraisee, Concord

>"What a bunch of idiots... Now me and my wife, both senior professionals are barely making a $100,000 a year... well the money just runs out.
- Rick, Manchester

No Rick, the only “idiot” is the one who thinks that people will sympathize with someone who is blubbering that they are too financially irresponsible to “get by” on 100 grand a year. Good grief! Blaming others for your own mess!

>" but where were you on the other - HUGER wastes of money?
- Jay Markarian, Wakefield"

Jay, maybe we were going to school, getting an education so we would not say things like "HUGER wastes of money".

Plus Jay, as far a Iraq being a welfare project for big oil, would you people please get your stories straight! Remember us evil Republicans were teaming up with Bush and Cheney to "trade blood for oil/take their oil", etc., etc.
- Joe, Manchester

The irony here is, everybody wants to blame the banks, the mortgage companies, the government etc. Here is a novel concept....blame the consumer.
I'm sorry folks but I just don't buy into this whole...."It wasn't my fault, I didn't understand the mortgage I signed." Here is the reality. when you sign a mortgage, you MUST read it carefully, If you have a question, hire a lawyer for approximately $150 to $300 to review the document with you. When you see the numbers on the loan document, understand what those numbers mean.

When my wife and I took out our mortgage, I was a pain in the neck to my lender. I required a copy of all documents 24 hours prior to closing. I was given all kinds of grief. I said...fine, if I don't have the documents, the closing will be delayed until I have had a chance to read everything, cover to cover. I was told that it wasn't necessary because I had a fixed rate etc.

there were several items I had questions on before I agreed to continue with the closing. The first...why am I paying an attorney fee when I don't know if an attorney has even reviewed the documents? I wanted proof of a bill or something before I agreed to pay that fee.
The "over-night courier fee"...yeah...had that waived. I wasn't going to pay for that. Hell, the closing was being held a few blocks away from where they were going to "over-night" the documents. I said...hey, save your money and walk it down.

there were several small monetary amounts that I simply did not agree with. At the end of the closing, the person who did the closing said in the end, my closing was one of the quickest she had done. Why? Because I did my homework 24 hours before signing anything. The end result...a smoothe closing, no surprises and a mortgage I can AFFORD.
Sorry people, you signed the note, you deal with the consequences. If you didn't understand the mortgage, shame on you. I have no sympathy for those who got "trapped" into these so called bad mortgages.
- Mike, Manchester

To Rick from Manchester.

You and your wife were making "hundreds of thousands" a year???? You are full of it. Now your making only $200 a year because of the Bush leager? Gee, I feel bad for you. Go read the Boston Globe and leave the UL for people living in the real world. By the way, Mass. hase a great mental health program, so feel free to move on down the road.
- Ronald Jansky, Salem, NH

Rick in Manchester, if you were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, if you're having problems now, that's your own fault for not investing properly. You should have had a diversified portfolio with stocks, mutual funds and precious metals. If you don't, whose fault is that? YOURS.

Go back to work, since you didn't plan ahead when you had the money!
- Josh DuPont, Manchester

To Shawn Perreault

USB Warburg did a study. $600 BILLION in losses from sub prime mortgages. So much for "legal and ethical" !
By creating an artificial demand, you also caused the legitimate home buyer to pay more for their home.
They may not use tax money to fix this. It's easier to just devalue the money by printing more and lowering interest rates.
Now the legitimate buyer is suffering with huge fuel and soon, tax bills. Yes, well done! But for who?
- Steve, Raymond

What a bunch of idiots, let me guess your republicans too and never worked an honest day in your life’s. It’s morons like you that is why this country is the way it is today! People like myself are in this mess because of the local and federal governments have shrewd this whole country up. I was making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year before Bush took over. Now me and my wife, both senior professionals are barely making a $100,000 a year together. Locally my NH property tax bill is well over a $1000 a months. My mortgage is manageable, but when I have to folk over $7000 plus every six months, plus a $1000 a month in gas for my house and cars. And on and, well the money just runs out.
I did not create this mess, I’m just along for the ride.
- Rick, Manchester

Hmm this is interesting psychology at work.

We can waste untold billions in Iraq for absolutely nothing at all - as a matter of fact the attendant rise in oil prices makes Iraq nothing but a welfare project for big oil, we can allow insurers to lobby for their gross profits until our health care system is a welfare state for them, Wall Street can beat the heck out of the home mortgage system for their betterment, and people say nothing about it. Business has to have room to do it's thing!

But, let some actual person try to get some relief on their mortgage and out come the attack dogs. I understand that people feel that it is unjust, but where were you on the other - HUGER wastes of money?
- Jay Markarian, Wakefield

Maybe the term "adjustable" wasn't explained properly. That means "your APR can change". Anyone who is going to live in a dwelling for longer than change in the APR, got what they deserved. Either sell before the change or acquire a fixed rate. Really not that difficult to comprehend.....
BTW: Only 24 people showed up? If this was politicaly motivated event, then the event certainly backfired.
- Allen, Londonderry

A friend of mine is a Realtor &/or home mortgage banker for the last 25 years. He started off by unloading a zillion condos for NH's largest builder in the 80's boom, using all sorts of tricks to get around people's low qualifications. They would use rising assessments on unbuilt condos as equity for more purchases, you could buy more than one condo and both were owner occupied, the rules were bent under the pressure of speculators working the temporary boom for fast profits. When that shell game fell apart he moved on to a huge national mortgage company and participated in the current sub prime mess. That got stinky, so now he's moved up the corporate ladder to a huge national bank as loan officer. He made tons of dough and left a trail of economic ruin. Go figure.
- Arthur Leaman, nashua

Charlie in Berwick you are a laugher! First thing you do is check off a person's skin color to categorize them? I was waiting for this response out of a UL poster, and here you are. As you are smart enough to not use your last name you are smart enough to understand what a bigoted/racist head you have on your shoulders. There's fifty broke white people behind this person in line, if that makes you happier.
- Chris Coutemarche, Manchester

I agree with Mike from Concord. Why should the responsible pay for the irresponsible through higher Federal taxes? It is sad but the only way the irresponsible learn lessons is the hard way. If there homes go into foreclosure, so be it. The general rule is that a mortgage payment should not exceed 25-30% of your take home pay. If proposed mortgage exceeds this percentage, do not do it. It is that simple. Financial education is key and it is no wonder that gurus such as Dave Ramsey are so successful.
- Michael, Manchester

Charlie, according to the Census Bereau, in 2006 NH's percentage of black persons was 1.1%, not "less than 1/10th of 1%." In ME, the percentage is .8%. This is all very easily found on http://quickfacts.census.gov. Additionally, Elizabeth (the woman in today's photo) is Jamaican, not African American. Her particular situation is not the typical story of getting a fad mortgage, and I applaud her for actively seeking help.
- Sue, Nashua

Once again, those of us who play by the rules have to pick up the slack for those who dont and then where made to feel like the Bad Guys because of their poor decisions if we rufuse help. Our Federal Gov. passes out Billions of $ our money to other countries who in turn spit on us, where were they when Katrina hit New Orleans? we could of at least helped them instead of Packistan who harbors Mr. Wonderful Bin Laden, I am fed up with all of it!
- Tom Hogan, Manchester

I hope you all realize that Sununu is running for re-election and that Guinta is running for Governor!
Kathy from Raymond is right on the money!
- Katherine, Manchester

Shame on me for being fiscally conservative and not purchasing a house I couldn't afford. Why, I should have gone for the 5000sq/ft "American Dream McMansion" and be living high, knowing that the taxpayers would bail me out! Guess I missed the party, but I'll still have to pay for it!
- Mike R., Bedford

My wife and I bought our first house 6 years ago when sub-primes were popular. We really didn't know much about mortgages, but we knew not to buy a house that was too expensive for us, even if the adjustable rate was 7 years down the road. We bought a house that we could pay for on one salary, just in case one of us was unexpectedly out of work. Now we are looking to sell our first house and move closer to our jobs, and we will no doubt be affected by these peoples bad decisions. We will only get a fraction of the assessed value our house from two years ago. It really bothers me that our educated decisions are now being punished because certain people didn't do their research.
- Dave, Fremont

It sounds like this was a big waste of time. There was nothing done at this workshop that could not have been done by the borrowers picking up the phone and calling their bank, or seeking out another bank to move their mortgage to.
I originally had an adjustable rate mortgage when I bought my house 10 years ago. The first time my mortgage payment went up, I went out and refinanced and got a fixed rate. These people had no problem going out and getting the sub-prime loans; Why can't they now go out and get fixed-rate loans? Why does this take government involvement?
- Rich, Derry

To Steve in Raymond.

For those people who made money on an up market (legally and ethically), well done. Don't chastise them for working within the system.

However, for us to have to foot the bill for people who wanted their own McMansion and cannot (and never could) afford the house, tough luck. There is no reason why everyone else's tax money needs to pay for your stupidity.

"Sign right here for your $300,000 house for only $500.00 a month!" As my Grandfather told me a very long time ago, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Shawn Perreault, Milton, NH

They bought houses they couldn't afford. They helped drive the prices of homes up, so others, who were more responsible, are now in homes that have gone down in value. We as a country, should just let the natural course of action occur. The banks, who made the bad loans, should be the ones eating the losses. The people who got in over their heads, let them learn from it, and start over.
- John, Derry

I can handle my payments now, but why do the lenders have to raise the interest rate on us every six months automatic, after the two years are up, regardless if your on time or not, its bad enough we lost our equity, so just leave our rates the same, if were on time. The lenders are doing this on there own to profit from what ever work you did to the home. It's not fair
- Roger, Candia

The people that got "rich" are probably much more skilled at managing money, as are most wealthy people. A survey of people that took second mortgages to obtain cash showed that after one year, less than half could remember what they did with the money. Further study showed that the monies were typically spent on things like vacations and cruises.

If there is a bailout I hope that government does not reward irresponsible behavior.
- Tony, Goffstown

All this workshop is is a way for politicians running for office to look like they are trying to help "the little people." These people shouldn't of qualified for a mortgage in the first place! I recall going to a homebuyers workshop back in 2002. There were programs for people receiving section 8 to apply that money to a mortgage! Of course, I being the person who was working a job making in the $30,000 range did not qualify for any of there "special" programs because I was to rich to be poor, but to poor to qualify for a "normal" mortgage. So guess what I did, it use to be the American way, I worked, saved and waited to purchase a home with a conventional mortgage 5 years later. WOW! What an orginal idea! Your right Steve, it seems there are a lot of takers/deceivers in this country and I am not only talking about the corporate theives!
- Kathy, Raymond

The fact is that the only thing that can help these people is a massive taxpayer bailout.
I don't see them chasing too many of those who got rich during this boom. They took the money and ran, like thieves in the night. At the same time the homeowners, working citizens and taxpayers will end up footing the bill. The moral of the story? Don't work and make money, deceive and take money. The worst part is that people in high places are just encouraging this kind of activity. They just bail out the thieves by inflating the money or creating government subsides. Imagine lowering the interest rates, when inflation is surging just to keep the scam going a little bit longer.
- Steve, Raymond

I'm sorry but this galls me! 90% of these mortgage holders are in trouble because of their OWN doing. What about all of us who did not buy a home over our budget?! Should we have to pay MORE TAXES to help those who didn't feel the need to be as prudent and buy a little bit less house than what they could afford? It sickens me!
- Mike, Concord