买个房真难(1)【沪江慢速VOA12-19】
Helping Subprime Borrowers: Too Little? Too Much? (1/2)
Imagine that you want to buy a house but are not sure you could meet the monthly payments. Your credit history is considered subprime -- not good enough for the lowest interest rates available. But a broker who finds lenders for homebuyers offers you a deal. A loan with payments low enough to fit your budget. After two or three years, however, your payments will go up, possibly thirty percent or more. Do you accept?
In the United States, an estimated two million subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are expected to reset higher in the next two years. These loans make up about seven percent of all mortgages. But now many of the owners are in danger of losing their homes because of rising payments.
Last week, President Bush announced a plan to help some people with subprime loan troubles. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought together a new private alliance called HOPE NOW. He and other government officials met with lenders, loan servicers, investors and others to work out terms of the plan.
The goal is to help families keep their homes -- and help avoid further injury to the already weak housing market. Lenders generally do not want to be in the business of selling houses reclaimed through foreclosure.
参考译文：
设想一下你想买一套房子然而又不能保证每月还贷的情形。你的信用记录不够好——不足以支付最低的利率。但是房屋经纪人找到了适合这类房屋买主的借贷人，他们为你提供预算范围内的低额还款。然而2、3年后，你的偿款可能增加30％或更多，你能接受吗？
在美国，预计中的200万次级可调整利率按揭贷款在未来2年极可能重新调整并提升。这些贷款大约占全部贷款的7％。然而如今因为偿款的升高令许多业主都面临着失去房子的风险。
上周，布什总统宣布一项计划，帮助那些身陷次级房贷困境的人。财政部秘书亨利•保罗森组织了一个名为“HOPE NOW”的私营联盟。他和其他政府官员及贷方，债务服务机构，投资者等共同完善此计划的条款。
这项计划旨在帮助业主保住他们的房子，还有避免带给已经脆弱的住房市场更大的伤害。贷方通常都不想没收房屋后以低于市场的价位将其出售。
