Mortgage Abuse and a Public Option, Of Sorts

Besides what Frank said, I’ve been marveling at the vibrant, patterned and organized photos of non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America serving hundreds of distressed home owners en masse this past month in arenas in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But why does it take a NACA to sit people down and offer them simple mortgage restructuring or foreclosure postponements, procedures that can often be executed in a matter of minutes? The event at the Cow Palace in Daly City, pictured above, drew over 50,000 people. Las Vegas drew 40,000. These blanket events, just like the free mass health care clinics we posted about a few months ago are visual proof that the free-market system is broken with banks and health insurance companies have been revealed as organized to intimidate people and drown them in red tape rather than sit them down and cater to them as we see above.

On the back of the loan volunteers orange t-shirts are a pair of eyes and text warning people to beware of loan sharks. I imagine they are referring to the non-corporate kind, but it’s hard to know anymore. Frankly, I’m getting tired of looking at these images of desperate people en mass being taken care of via a philanthropic “work around.”

And then, banks should not have to be dragged into this kind of setting via the efforts of non-profit organizations. These latter two images are a travesty, as the banks should be taking care of these customers under their own roofs and under their own accord.

(images 1: Michael Macor / SF Chronicle. Images 2 & 3: Robyn Beck/AFP. caption: Hundreds of financial counselors with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) help homeowners process financial information during the ‘Save The Dream’ event October 16, 2009 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. Thousands of people lined up for the NACA Save the Dream event for assistance with having their mortgages restructured to avoid foreclosure or an auction sale of their home. NACA has held events throughout the U.S. with over 180,000 people seeking help with their home loans. The event runs through October 20 and is expected to draw over 55,000 participants.)