Filings for personal bankruptcies are at an all-time high today. The reason is fairly obvious to anybody who has the vaguest idea about how family budgets work. I can explain the problem in two words: mortgage crisis!

Personal bankruptcy cases that were filed in the first quarter of 2008 were nearly double what they were last year, and the situation is not going to improve in the foreseeable future.

Subprime loans are the most likely cause of the mortgage crisis. Subprime loans were marketed aggressively during the real estate boom between 2000 and late 2006. Subprime adjustable rate mortgages started with low teaser rates that almost anybody could qualify for and have adjusted upward to unmanageable levels for borrowers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a family cannot make a mortgage payment that exceeds their net income. Selling the home isn’t an option, either, because the inflated value that they paid for the home has now adjusted downward.

There’s plenty of blame to go around. Aggressive predatory lenders were part of the cause of the mortgage crisis, but there are other factors as well. Real estate speculators saw a way to make a quick and easy buck. They bought properties at values that they knew were inflated and then sold them at prices that were even more inflated to people who under other circumstances would never have been approved for a mortgage and who should have known better than to walk into the trap.

Meanwhile, both political parties and both houses of Congress debate the issue – and debate the issue, and debate it some more. There is no real resolution for the problem in sight. The solution – whatever it is, and whenever it comes – needs to help consumers without rewarding predatory lenders or real estate speculators. It’s a tall order. Don’t hold your breath.

Milos Pesic is a Debt Management consultant who runs a highly popular and comprehensive Debt Consolidation web site. For more articles and resources on debt management, debt consolidation programs, free debt counseling and much more visit his site at:

=> http://debtpaid.info/