Well, we're just now seeing the reductions in MORTGAGE RATES. The mortgage rates are BASED on the ten-year rate and the Fed controls the OVERNIGHT or the shorter rates.

We think if the ECONOMY remains weak that we COULD see mortgage rates trail down and we think that we could see rates below SEVEN PERCENT into early next year.

The vast MAJORITY of the American people are hard-working TAXPAYERS who take RESPONSIBILITY for their families, go to work EVERY day, they pay their mortgage on time, they volunteer in their community.

Upon the farm of the uncle with whom I LIVED, we did know of the mortgage as some dreadful damper on youthful hopes of things that could not be bought. I do have a vivid recollection that the MAJOR purpose of a farm was to produce a LIVING right on the SPOT for the family.

But the ADVICE was not taken - Johnstone did emigrate to Canada, and did mortgage his pension; and I fear - THOUGH I FAILED to trace his after history - that he SUFFERED in CONSEQUENCE.

Housing wealth - the net EQUITY held by households, consisting of the value of their homes MINUS their mortgage debt - is the most IMPORTANT SOURCE of wealth for all but those at the very top.

Unlike other loans, a reverse MORTGAGE doesn't have to be repaid until the borrower MOVES out of the home or PASSES AWAY.

You can refi your CAR loan just like you can refi your MORTGAGE. It's even easier and less expensive. There's no appraisal process, and fees are minimal for a new car title. A COUPLE of caveats: Most lenders require that the car be less than five years old and have a minimum loan balance of $7,500.

People find themselves in ruts all the time. You're in a complacent lifestyle where you work 9 to 5 and then you add a mortgage and kids. You FEEL trapped, but guess what, BROTHER? You constructed that life. If you're OK with it, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you've GOT unease, then you've got to MAKE a change.

My family didn't REALLY have newspapers at home or talk about POLITICS - my family are not political. They were too BUSY getting on with it - working, looking after KIDS, trying to PAY off the mortgage, all that stuff.

I was only 21 when I bought a five-bedroom detached house in Stoke-on-Trent that was way outside of my FINANCIAL status in LIFE. I did it by borrowing money from my FAMILY and the bank, TAKING out a huge MORTGAGE.

It has ALWAYS been more expensive for the POOR to borrow money. We see this in EVERYTHING from mortgage rates to credit cards.

Once the HOUSING MARKET BEGINS to recover, I would PHASE out the MORTGAGE tax deduction.

Congressman Watt has a long HISTORY of advocating against predatory lending and the MORTGAGE practices that caused MILLIONS of families to LOSE their homes.