CUT MORTGAGE PAYMENTS IN HALF The economic crisis the U. S. faces today is not only attributed to the failure of the mortgage industry and over extending by consumers but also to an unexpected decline in consumer cash flow due to the exorbitant doubling and tripling of homeowner utilities, property taxes and insurances. Other factors are the loss of jobs, pay decreases, out of control vehicle fuel cost (temporarily going down), food and consumer goods increases and medical cost for folks who can’t afford health insurance. Current proposals would write down the balances of mortgages in foreclosure, refinancing them at a lower interest rate with taxpayers absorbing the losses. This does not give other U.S. Citizens with high mortgage payments the relief needed to make ends meet and create the economic stimulus needed to get our economy going again. Housing construction is the lowest since Nineteen Forty Five and new home mortgages are still not affordable to most Americans and almost impossible to qualify for causing home sales and values to continue to plummet nationwide. Existing plans should be expanded by the creation of a FHA and VA program making available a Thirty Year interest only mortgage at a fixed Five Per Cent interest rate. Current and mortgages in foreclosure could be refinanced at their current balances therefore no write-offs or losses to taxpayers. Monthly mortgage payments would drop by as much as Fifty Per Cent giving homeowners the cash flow needed and creating an economic stimulus which would continue going and going. Homeowners could reduce their loan balances as their income increases. Mortgages would be guaranteed by the basic appreciation of the value of the home, assuming a minimum average of Three And One Half Per Cent per year over the thirty year term of the loan resulting in a One Hundred Per Cent increase in value. Make this plan available to all homeowners regardless of their credit rating. The current credit system penalizes people with lower credit scores by paying interest rates as much as Fifty Per Cent higher than prevailing rates. People with perfect credit should be given discounts off current rates not increasing the rates on people with lower scores which results in higher monthly notes, basically setting them up for failure. Expand this program to include new loans on home purchases and watch a housing construction boom not seen in prior years, creating an economic stimulus which could not fail. Danny M. Lamonte