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I’ve been totally slacking lately in the blog duties. I haven’t been inspired to write much for various different reasons, be it lack of inspiration, lack of time or just plain lack of giving a damn. I stopped paying much attention to the news a few months ago, when CNN started becoming less of a news network and more like a hokey medicine show. Not that I’m not aware of what’s been going on in the world, I am, but mostly by nothing more than a headline.

I’ve avoided blogging about financial related matters as it’s just become trite at this point. My daily gig is in the financial industry, where every day I see the fallout from the economy, bankruptcy, foreclosures, deaths of borrowers who leave no will or had any estate planning. And then the morons who file bankruptcy and think the slate is wiped clean a month later and they can go right back out and get more credit. (Wrong!)

I’ve avoided the rant because nobody’s paying any attention. This is evident in the government’s overhaul of lending regulations that cover home buying. This is evident also in the President’s Home Affordable Modification Program, aka HARP, which, surprise, has not helped hardly anyone out there that it was intended to help.

The reason why is easy. The program sucks. The qualifications and requirements are too complex, the required slashing of interest rates on these loans no bank or investor wants to swallow and it’s probably safe to assume that even once all is said and done, the loan would end up in foreclosure anyway because the borrower was in over their head from day one.

Which brings me to the changes to lending regulations. This is even worse. Although the intent of the new reg is noble, to provide the consumer with information so they can shop around for the best loan for them, unfortunately does not work in practical application. What was once known as the “Good Faith Estimate” is now essentially a document the lending institution is bound by. The government has taken “good faith” and “estimate” right out of it. The bank is bound by the fees and costs it discloses in that Estimate or else it could end up paying a penalty, (if certain fees/costs exceed a certain tolerance in certain circumstances).

In fact, if the bank does a “no cost” loan, in which it absorbs the costs/fees of the loan and the customer doesn’t pay a dime in closing costs, if any cost or fee disclosed on the Good Faith Estimate should exceed one of those tolerances, the bank has to pay the customer the difference.

Hell of a deal eh? You don’t pay a cent in fees, but if the bank screws up you get a check! Woo! Bank Error in Your Favor. Pass Go and Collect $200!

Ah, but I’m rambling in a half rant here. Thus, this is why I haven’t blogged much because I don’t want this to be one rant after another. I realize, however, that I gotta get back into the swing of things with the blog here and find topics BESIDES the stuff that pisses me off to blog about. Even if it’s just sharing YouTube gems or more screen caps from DVDs or whatever nonsense I can come up with.

So here’s to renewed chaos!