Feds Introduce Restrictive New Mortgage Rules
Having created the problem, they will "solve" the problem by treating people like idiots
The federal government's consumer watchdog will introduce new mortgage rules today. They are designed to protect homebuyers from big bad banks. But they are also about protecting consumers from themselves, which is a slippery slope.
Post-financial crisis, it's deemed too much to expect individuals to read and understand a mortgage document. Dozens of studies suggest we are a financially illiterate society; attempts to teach people about all manner of credit and personal financial matters have largely failed. For our own good, then, the government must mandate "plain vanilla" products that a child could understand.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Nothing is more plain-vanilla and simple to understand than a typical mortgage from the 1910's that is now called "Interest Only". And those are now banned.