Filed under: Newspapers, Housing

Here’s a fascinating story from The Wall Street Journal: “Despite the downturn of the mortgage market, a type of home loan has remained surprisingly sturdy: one extended to illegal immigrants….For loans more than 90 days in arrears, ITIN mortgages have a delinquency rate of about 0.5%, according to independent estimates. That compares with 1% for prime mortgages and 9.3% for subprime mortgages extended to those with spotty credit histories.”

The Journal talks about the possibility of a weakening in this lost stronghold but there’s another interesting story here: If these immigrants can pay their mortgages, why can’t other people? Part of the reason could be that these mortgages are evaluated using different, more stringent metrics.

But I also wonder if too many Americans have just lost the sense of pride and commitment to keep their homes. If illegal immigrants can keep their homes, while they send money to families abroad and face tough job conditions, why can’t Americans?

If immigrants can keep up with their mortgages, does it really make sense for Congress to push for bailouts for homeowners who are falling behind?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 7:40 pm and is filed under Stocks Money News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.