Foreclosure probe is of little help

The article in the Oct. 14 Daily Herald business section regarding a nationwide foreclosure probe was a bit disturbing.

I cannot imagine that anyone who entered into a mortgage agreement could have possibly misunderstood that the bank has the right to take the property if payments aren't made. Isn't that what a mortgage is?

It doesn't appear that there are any claims that banks are trying to foreclose on property owners who have been making their payments. Instead, it appears that these serious charges being investigated by all our states attorneys general amount to whether bank officials dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” in the documents.

Does anyone maintain that the mortgage agreements don't provide the banks with the authority to initiate a foreclosure is payments aren't being made? I know it's really popular right now to hate banks, and they certainly have done enough to put themselves in the predicament they are in.

And it is a national tragedy that so many good people are facing loss of their homes. But this probe is nothing more than bullying by politicians pandering to an angry public. It isn't doing anything to fix the problems. If anything, it only makes things worse by reinforcing the anti-business climate that dries up the jobs that people need to be able to afford their houses.

Tom Kupferer

Naperville