House rules

Soaring foreclosure rates are devastating some communities and raising questions about how much imprudent lenders and borrowers should lose, how much taxpayers should pay, and what churches can do to help | Mark Bergin, Jamie Dean, Lynn Vincent

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For many Americans, talk of a foreclosure crisis smacks of hyperbole. While national foreclosure filings have climbed from about 70,000 per month in 2005 to between 200,000 and 250,000 per month now, such numbers represent only a small fraction of the country's total homeowners.

Most middle- to upper-class neighborhoods are spared the regular reminder of foreclosure signs that dot front yards in many lower-income areas. But the issue is not strictly limited to the bottom end of the socioeconomic strata. A historic monetary easing by the Greenspan-dominated Federal Reserve earlier this decade enticed lenders and homebuyers across the income spectrum into questionable deals. Now, wherever overreaching borrowers, exotic loan products, rising interest rates, and cooling home values meet, crisis lurks around the corner.