I'm sure there are other people like myself who have to renew a mortage in 1999 ( july 31 to be exact ). Should I renegotiate for a very short term ( 6 months to a year ) or should I go for the long haul 10 years ? If anyone has information about this situation could you also explain WHY either of the above answers is the best? Thanks S.S

-- Steve Sykes (pbjb@hotmail.com), November 07, 1998

Answers

# # # 19981107

Hi, Steve,

You may not need to worry about renewing anything by then. Computer systems will be really screwed up by then. Consumer confidence will be completely gone, not trusting whatever notices they get from anybody. Companies will be swamped, trying to straighten out their IT billing messes without enough resources. They'll not be able to follow up on delinquents or "skips" -- if they can tell the difference between the two. Take a wait and see attitude. There may be mortgage ( all credit? ) holidays declared because of the Year 200 Techno-Ambush. [ It was done during the depression years. ] Yes! It'll be _that bad, and worse! I've programmed a lot of Year 2000-defective programs in my career of 33+ years in the IT industry -- all waiting to "self-destruct" like so many time bombs. I've fixed many Year 2000-"broken" programs on 4 ( different ) Y2K- remediation assignments since February, 1997. There will be no doubt in the public's perception about the gravity of the Year 2000 computer meltdown by End of 1Q1999! No doubt at all! Only so much can be hidden, for only so long. I wish you well.

Regards, Bob Mangus # # #

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@mail.netquest.com), November 07, 1998.

"There may be mortgage ( all credit? ) holidays declared because of the Year 200 Techno-Ambush. [ It was done during the depression years. ] Yes! It'll be _that bad, and worse!"

Bob,

I know very little about the Great Depression. Would you please go into more detail about the mortgage holidays? The bits and pieces I do know about was only about the bank holidays (and very little about that).

Best regards,

Anna

-- Anna McKay Ginn (annaginn@aol.com), November 08, 1998.