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Old 03-01-2009, 01:51 PM  
Paul Markham
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: On the sofa, watching TV or doing my jigsaws.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cykoe6 View Post
This is false. Two years ago in Latvia anyone with a job on the books could quite easily get a loan with monthly payments up to 2/3 of their salary. Someone making 600 LVL per month ($1200) could buy a $40,000 car. Now there are so many cars loans under water in Latvia that the finance companies are not even repossessing them since there are no buyers at any price. All those loans are non performing and are held by European banks (mostly Swedish). That does not even hold a candle to the amount of real estate loans that are under water.
This was happening in more places than Latvia, for instance the UK was giving out mortgages no one could repay in a good economy. So the bankers could earn bonuses based on the debt portfolios. And most people were buying into the system. Look at your debts and tell me they are manageable. Even if you keep your present income.

Then think in terms of it dropping 15%.

We built a house on sand and guess what happened when the tide came in?
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