From the article:
A growing debt
How one family went from no debt to owing more than $1 million.
*Debt does not include interest or other fees
July 1997
The Boatengs arrived in the United States
DEBT: $0
1999
Purchased a used Toyota Corolla for $2,000
CARS: $2,000
DEBT: $2,000
May 2000
Took out a mortgage on a three-bedroom town home in Germantown.
CARS: $2,000
MORTGAGE: $128,900
DEBT: $130,900
2000
Purchased a new Nissan Altima for $12,000.
CARS: $14,000
MORTGAGE: $128,900
DEBT: $142,900
2003
Comfort began to take out student loans.
2002-2005
Refinanced their Germantown home several times to fund improvements and to pay off some debt, including the cars.
MORTGAGE: $128,900
CASHOUTS: $95,000
DEBT: $223,900
July 2004
Refinanced their Germantown home to borrow $60,000 for the down payment on a new house in Fairwood, outside of Bowie.
CARS: $14,000
MORTGAGE: $128,900
CASHOUTS: $155,000
DEBT: $283,900
November 2005
Took out two loans to buy the new home in Fairwood.
GERMANTOWN MORTGAGE: $128,900
GERMANTOWN CASHOUTS: $155,000
FAIRWOOD MORTGAGES: $554,683
DEBT: $838,583
September 2006
Refinanced to consolidate the two loans on Fairwood home and some debt.
GERMANTOWN MORTGAGE: $128,900
GERMANTOWN CASHOUTS: $155,000
NEW FAIRWOOD MORTGAGE: $612,276
DEBT: $896,176
2006
Took out personal loans after their tenant in Germantown failed to pay rent. Comfort obtained two $20,000 business loans.
GERMANTOWN MORTGAGE: $128,900
GERMANTOWN CASHOUTS: $155,000
FAIRWOOD MORTGAGE: $612,276
PERSONAL LOANS: $15,000
BUSINESS LOANS: $40,000
DEBT: $951,176
August 2011
Bank valued the home in Fairwood at $378,216. This was $238,839 less than what they paid.
2013
Comfort completed a master’s degree after taking out roughly $60,000 in student loans.
GERMANTOWN MORTGAGE: $128,900
GERMANTOWN CASHOUTS: $155,000
FAIRWOOD MORTGAGE: $612,276
PERSONAL LOANS: $15,000
BUSINESS LOANS: $40,000
STUDENT LOANS:$60,000
DEBT: $1,011,176
January 2015
The Boatengs are still living in the Fairwood home. They have not made a mortgage payment in more than six years.
Sources: Post analysis of financial records
How To Bum On The Books?
Pretty much what my ex did, on a slightly smaller scale. Finally got my head back to ‘dirt level’ after 5 years!
Again, if I had shot him back when he deserved it, I’d be out of prison by now, LOL!
Tough Life Lesson, but you gotta laugh. Most days.
Oh, I am sure all the blame must and will be laid on the Predatory Lender. The Predatory Lender who grabbed that poor unsuspecting black couple from Ghana off the street and forced them to sign loan documents in 1999, 2000 (twice), 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013. I just wonder how that Predatory Lender managed to miss them in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014. That is 8 out of the last 15 years that the Predatory Lender missed out on his/her commissions and interest money.
As an after thought, Is a couple from Ghana known as African African Americans?
Could a US citizen get away with this??
I know I the bank mortgage officers with whom I have dealt would not allow it. Something is fishy.
Proof that education doesn’t make you smart. The man is an idiot and true Obamaton. Just keep spending your way out of debt.
Sweeeeeet. Living the American dream. /s
The Boatengs are still living in the Fairwood home. They have not made a mortgage payment in more than six years.
...
Sometimes it’s cheaper to pay a lawyer to stall foreclosure indefinitely. It’s like paying rent to a lawyer, and if they are paying property taxes, they are paying rent to the government, too.
They have enjoyed the comfort of their $600K home while I have made choices that lower my enjoyment of my home, and now, they want me to pay for theirbad choices. I am already paying half my income to the government!
(Rhymes with) Duck them!
Pick yourself up, dut yourself off, and start again.
“...The Boatengs are still living in the Fairwood home. They have not made a mortgage payment in more than six years....”
*******************************************************************************************************
This is the essence of their “situation”
“STILL LIVING IN THE FAIRWOOD HOME. THEY HAVE NOT MADE A MORTGAGE PAYMENT IN MORE THAN SIX YEARS”
While the majority of us poor Schmucks pay our mortgage or rent each month, a segment of our population has managed to become parasites and latch on the wonders of “free” (free to them, very expensive to the rest of us who are subsidizing them) living.
I do not now, and never will, have ANY sympathy for such leeches. They long ago should have simply went into bankruptcy and begun the process of rebuilding their lives and living RESPONSIBLY—millions have. But of course those millions who have taken responsible action haven’t managed to be living rent-free for 6 years.