No, You Can't Get Your Principal Lowered If The Value Of Your Home Declines

[Jluke]

I recall on bogleheads someone being similarly confused when they wanted to refinance their mortgage.


they couldn’t comprehend that the remaining loan amount was all they needed to borrow even when the house had increased in value.

[ua_guy]

Everyone learns somewhere. It's probably something one should know before buying a home or taking out a mortgage. Think of it this way: Now they know, after being humiliated on the internet! lol

[myrdale]

I think in 8th grade we had Government & Economics. I don't remember much of the subject matter other than us picking stocks and following them for a few weeks. In retrospect it really wasn't much more than gambling since it was only over a 6 week period.

Economics 101 was a required core class in college. That was more supply & demand, guns & butter, and compound interest. I really enjoyed that class.

We were also required to take an engineering economics class. I keep my copy of Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers on the shelf next to my desk. It doesn't see much use but I have occassionally picked it up for putting together project cost and estimating labor etc.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

A lot of people are uneducated in things you would consider simple. Like that you can pay off your Credit Card 100% in full every month. People think you only need to pay the minimum and that the rest well disappears? Then they realize they have to pay it somehow. I have a friend who doesn't want to use a 0% credit card no matter how much I explain she should to pay her higher rate CC because I suspect she knows she won't pay it off. I told her 0% gives her a chance to get it down against 29% interest. She i one of those people who only pays the minimum, and no she can't declare bankruptcy because she make $100k+/year in alimony but still has $40k in CC debt.

She just can't stop spending and I said cut up the cards. She's not dumb at all. but the spending she can't help herself. And she can't seem to fathom she needs to be paying down her CC and she doesn't want to affect her CC score so she doesn't

[bjl584]

A lot of people are uneducated in things you would consider simple. Like that you can pay off your Credit Card 100% in full every month. People think you only need to pay the minimum and that the rest well disappears? Then they realize they have to pay it somehow. I have a friend who doesn't want to use a 0% credit card no matter how much I explain she should to pay her higher rate CC because I suspect she knows she won't pay it off. I told her 0% gives her a chance to get it down against 29% interest. She i one of those people who only pays the minimum, and no she can't declare bankruptcy because she make $100k+/year in alimony but still has $40k in CC debt.

She just can't stop spending and I said cut up the cards. She's not dumb at all. but the spending she can't help herself. And she can't seem to fathom she needs to be paying down her CC and she doesn't want to affect her CC score so she doesn't

There are a lot of very smart people who earn a lot of money that are just plain dumb with money.
Go figure, but it seems to happen a lot.