Forum Post: Canada. No bank failures/bail outs. No foreclosure problems. No housing bubble.

http://www.american.com/archive/2010/february/due-north-canadas-marvelous-mortgage-and-banking-system

"Canada’s banks are generally ranked as the safest and soundest in the world, and their non-politicized banking system could provide a model for banking reform in the United States. Moving towards the Canadian banking system could go a long way towards stabilizing our mortgage, credit, and housing markets and make us less vulnerable to financial shocks in the future."

"Full Recourse Mortgages in Canada. Almost all Canadian mortgages are “full recourse” loans, meaning that the borrower remains fully responsible for the mortgage even in the case of foreclosure. If a bank in Canada forecloses on a home with negative equity, it can file a deficiency judgment against the borrower, which allows it to attach the borrower’s other assets and even take legal action to garnish the borrower’s future wages. In the United States, we have a mix of recourse and non-recourse laws that vary by state, but even in recourse states, the use of deficiency judgments to attach assets and garnish wages is infrequent. The full recourse feature of Canadian mortgages results in more responsible borrowing, fewer delinquencies, and significantly fewer foreclosures than in the United States."

"Public Policy Differences for Low-Income Housing. To promote affordable housing for low-income households, the Canadian government has not used public policies like the Community Reinvestment Act in the United States, which encouraged homeownership for lower-income and less creditworthy borrowers, financed frequently with subprime mortgages. Instead, the Canadian government provides public funding for low-income rental housing, rather than encouraging homeownership for low-income households, and Canada has thus avoided the American mistake of using misguided policies to turn good, low-income renters into bad homeowners."

Discuss.