I feel that mortgages are often times unethical. I’m not talking about the subprime mortgages in our recent past. They know that everyone needs and wants a home, and most people do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash saved up to get a home. The only thing fair I believe about the process today is interest rates. They are around 4% or less if you have a good credit. They advertise everywhere on billboards, inside banks, on financial websites, and mailers. They say that they offer great rates or free “closing costs”. This is not really true, as a lot of times you end up paying a higher interest rate in exchange for “no fees”. It’s all built in. What I believe is the most unethical part is the fact that they amortize the mortgage, which means they front load the interest at the beginning of the loan. You are hardly paying down the principal in the first 10 years. They also force you to take PMI (private mortgage insurance) on any home that is more than 80% LTV (loan to value). That is an insult to injury. In my opinion, they caused this mess by creating subprime mortgages, and because they lost out of profits because people couldn’t pay, now they want to guarantee themselves that they will receive profits via PMI, even if the loan defaults. They win either way! And if you are a good paying customer for 10-15 years then you lose your job, well who cares...they got most of the interest out of you anyways (hence why they are "quick" to accept a short sale...even if it's at a loss, they are still at a profit)... then they will turn around and start the process over with someone else. They end up making double--triple-- or more than the home is worth. It’s an outrage and almost as bad as compulsory insurance in my opinion. I think they definitely should be regulated to allow interest to be steady throughout the loan. I also think they should be forced to take on the liability just like anyone else doing business and not make people get PMI.