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Breaks of the game, you could say. But with foreclosure rates at unprecedented levels, and with a broader economic recovery hinging on a turnaround in the housing market, isn’t there a point where it can reasonably be asked whether banks shouldn’t be doing more to keep people in their homes, even if that means taking a bath on some loans?
“Of course, that would be the right thing,” said Christopher Thornberg, a principal at forecasting firm Beacon Economics. “But it would be like asking an oil tanker to make a sharp turn. You couldn’t get the banks to do it.”
He pointed out that big banks aren’t designed to make individual decisions for individual clients. Instead, they follow one-size-fits-all corporate policies. And if that means you keep foreclosing on people’s homes, so be it.
I’m not saying Hogan doesn’t deserve to be thrown out of her house. She does. After her husband died, she made a modest effort to contact BofA and sort things out, but she quickly found herself lost in a bewildering sea of paperwork and financial requirements.
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