NY Times: Return of the Predators

I wanted to share an editorial from this morning's New York Times [1] about the predatory loan-modification companies that have sprung up in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis. "Predators of every sort have regrouped and returned to their old ways," the editorial board writes, "this time as loan-modification companies, inserting themselves between hard-strapped homeowners and banks, offering to work deals --- for cash up front."

Although it's true these nefarious companies are to blame for the schemes they try to pass off as great deals to homeowners in foreclosure, they are filling a hole left by banks and the government. We have not been sufficiently aggressive in helping people restructure their mortgages and stay in their homes. As the editorial puts it, "the good actors in this bad drama need to get better at working around that problem, before more good money is thrown after bad."