Live data from Hacker News

Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

npr.org

11–20 of 595 posts

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#12
post #8

Guy has what looks like a luxury truck and is apparently having trouble deciding between food and his car payment. Sell the car, get a cheap used beater, reduce expenses, keep looking for a job. Not sure what NPR wants me to take from this example.

Hiring is very slow at the moment and the beater would likely require a lot of maintenance and have a high price tag although I agree that it’s smart to drive cars that are more economical.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#13
Lockdowns are effective as tourniquets, but indefinite or long term use was never logical. There should have been more forward-thinking and pragmatic options pushed earlier. We will now see the natural repercussions of lockdown-centered policies.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#14

Yet the S&P500 is still green. The Fed continues to print in order to delay the inevitable. Either a currency crisis or hyperinflation.

Savings rates are through the roof right now, I would worry more about a deflation spiral.

You may be biased as a WFH/silicon valley type (continuing to produce income despite shelter at home). The median checking account balance was $3,400 in 2019, and that was before COVID19 struck.

There's a lot of people who were already barely hanging on, and now covid and demonstrations have pulled the rug out from under them.

We're only 2 months in. Things will get worse before they get better.

1. https://www.valuepenguin.com/banking/average-checking-accoun...

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#15
post #8

Guy has what looks like a luxury truck and is apparently having trouble deciding between food and his car payment. Sell the car, get a cheap used beater, reduce expenses, keep looking for a job. Not sure what NPR wants me to take from this example.

Many people finance expensive cars with no money down and are immediately underwater on their loan. In a situation like that, you can’t offload your vehicle easily without also coughing up thousands to cover the difference between the car’s sell value (who is even buying right now?) and the cars loan balance.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#16

If there is no spike in infections within two weeks, from areas which had large public protests in the past week, can millions of Americans be helped by restarting the economy?

Unlikely. A fair number of people are multiple payments/rent behind, not to mention still missing their unemployment checks.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#17
This is just the start. Landlords would be smart to work with tenants to share some of the loss and renegotiate temporary adjustments to keep at least some revenue coming in because the heady days of high demand for rental units is likely behind us for a while.

It'll be worse in downtown areas. I've heard from multiple firms that are looking at downsizing their expensive office space and continuing to allow employees to work from home. if a person doesn't have to work downtown they will often choose not to live there either.

COVID is going to change the face of urban real estate. So if you have a tenant, they're gold and do what you can to keep them.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#18

Yet the S&P500 is still green. The Fed continues to print in order to delay the inevitable. Either a currency crisis or hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation is not typically something you're going to worry about in a demand collapse situation.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#19

Lockdowns are effective as tourniquets, but indefinite or long term use was never logical. There should have been more forward-thinking and pragmatic options pushed earlier. We will now see the natural repercussions of lockdown-centered policies.

Nobody was ever advocating for indefinite or long-term lockdown policies. That's a strawman.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#20
post #12
post #8

Guy has what looks like a luxury truck and is apparently having trouble deciding between food and his car payment. Sell the car, get a cheap used beater, reduce expenses, keep looking for a job. Not sure what NPR wants me to take from this example.

Hiring is very slow at the moment and the beater would likely require a lot of maintenance and have a high price tag although I agree that it’s smart to drive cars that are more economical.

Anecdotal, but I keep hearing about restaurants and other small businesses that can't convince their employees to come back to work. Something about the unemployment benefits + CARES Act bonus being more than they were earning while working...
Post reply on HN