Target: Mike Flood, Chair of U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
Goal: Prevent longer mortgage plans that hike interest rates to unaffordable levels.
Housing prices have continued on an upward trajectory, due to factors like demand outpacing supply and rising construction costs. Since the pandemic, mortgage rates have doubled, even outside of city limits. In response, the federal government has proposed several fixes, such as portable mortgages. But perhaps the most controversial proposal comes from the president himself, who has recently floated the prospect of a 50-year mortgage plan.
The reasoning for raising mortgages from their current 30-year maximum is that payments would be lower since buyers would have more time to pay off the loan. But, as critics point out, with longer payment periods come much longer periods for interest to accrue. Some estimates forecast that a 50-year mortgage could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a home buyer’s lifetime payments. In nations where mortgage plans can go as long as 90 years, monthly payments have sometimes increased by well over 1,000 dollars.
Sign the petition below to compel elected leaders not to endorse an idea that could spell disaster for prospective homeowners nationwide.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Flood,
Home ownership is a dream of many Americans, but it is a dream that is increasingly delayed or altogether canceled. Average ages for first-time homeowners have risen by 12 years in just a short time. A 50-year or higher mortgage rate, as proposed by the White House, would see many individuals in their graves before the dream is realized.
More consequentially, such a proposal would add another undue financial burden (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of interest payment dollars) to Americans already stressed by an uncertain-at-best economy. Do not support this ill-advised concept. Please uphold the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Consumer Protection Act and protect consumers from a proposal that has already proven to be a failure in other countries.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Thirdman
