Deadbeats

Our system worked reasonably well as long as it was really really not in the financial interest of banks to foreclose on residential real estate. Now that the incentives are screwed up, their asymmetric power is going to screw all of us.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Michael and Pamella Negrea have never been late on a mortgage payment in the 15 years they've owned their home in Eastlake. But they've been foreclosed on three times.

Martin and Kirsten Davis, meanwhile, lost their home in Cleveland to foreclosure two years ago. The reason: a mess that started when they accidentally paid 14 cents too little on their monthly payment.

And Michael Rendes of Berea had his mortgage sold last year to Bank of America. The bank foreclosed on him in November, after insisting for months that it didn't hold his loan and wouldn't accept his payments.