the junk junkies just never learn, do they?

I've been slowly watching the return of articles pushing automation in mortgage underwriting and mused that it wasn't taking very long for people to forget that the loss of competent human credit analysts is what started this whole mess.

This morning, this article popped up on Inman and I am simply amazed but I guess shouldn't be surprised that folks just don't get what credit underwriting is all about.

With so many people now saddled with poor credit, reestablishing "nonprime" lending is increasingly important to the future of homeownership, researchers at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies argue in a new report.

The hardest lesson I learned as a young underwriter is that some people are not willing or able to repay and that placing them in a house, even when the lender isn't a predator and the consumer fully understands the disclosures, is NOT helping them.   It only leads them to foreclosure.

Trust me.  Don't walk down this road again.