Downside to Carrying Back a Mortgage

In his June 13 article, “Why Your Lender May Keep Your Good Credit to Himself,” Kenneth Harney wrote that the credit reporting system was based on “the willingness of their creditors to voluntarily pass on data to the repositories, with no compensation.”

I sold a mobile home a few years ago and carried the mortgage myself. The buyer made one payment only, then filed for bankruptcy, so I foreclosed. With two attorneys (foreclosure and bankruptcy) and repairs to the mobile home and the costs of the sale, I was ultimately out about $11,000.

I contacted one of the private credit repositories mentioned in the article to report the buyer’s action and was told that it would cost me hundreds of dollars to do that, since I was not in the lending business.

This is one of the downsides to the frequent suggestion by Real Estate Q&A; columnist Robert Bruss to carry back the mortgage for the extra interest income.

MICHAEL B. BAKER

Laguna Hills

It is evident that lenders in the future, as they are doing now, will only report negative credit information on borrowers. In that way they can charge a higher interest rate. It hardly seems fair.

D. WALLEN

Via e-mail