WTF, Why are people leaving all this stuff behind?

[Useless]

Originally Posted by MadCat

Nope, the USA doesn't have WW, WAO, bijstand, etc. there's no social security at all, as far as I remember.

The U.S. does have Social Security, but it doesn't amount to much and doesn't kick in until you apply for it at retirement age.

There is a growing Reverse Mortgage program for homeowners over 65. My parents applied for a reverse mortgage, but, due to the high interest rate, penalties and missed payments, they owe too much on the house for the bank to go forward with it. (The home must appraise for certain percentage over what is owed.) If that would had gone through, they could have remained at their home indefinitely without ever having to make another payment. The Reverse Mortgage bank attempted to convince the current mortgage holder to do a short-sale, but they refused to take a penny less than what is currently owed, even though they would still be getting more than the original debt and wouldn't have had to spend tens of thousands of dollars on foreclosure proceedings. (Which is one of the reasons these inflexible sub-prime banks are killing themselves.)

I have compassion for my parent's situation, but it is their fault. My father was a realtor for 18 years and he should have known that the re-fi loan they were signing was shit. Plus, they were barely holding on even before my mother lost her job.