A justifiable decision?-BbB

Have you seen the recent story of the Ohio man who bulldozed his home to “send a message” to the banking industry?

Terry Hoskins says he owed less than $160,000 on a home worth close to $350,000 and the bank was getting ready to foreclose on it even though he had never missed a payment.  He didn’t think it was fair that the bank would be getting more than he owed, so he wanted to make sure they didn’t get anything more than a worthless pile of rubble on a piece of land.  Some people are cheering his actions and calling him a hero.

The facts are a little sketchy but it seems this man made a lot of bad business decisions.  Hoskins was the owner of a struggling carpet store.   Entrepreneurs are tenacious, sometimes to a fault.   They hang on desperately trying to find more money wherever they can to keep their business going.  When Hoskins business began to have cash flow problems, he stopped paying his state and federal taxes. Even if he had protected himself personally by incorporating his business, he was still personally liable for repaying its’ tax debt. He also used his personal assets (his house) as collateral for his business debt.  Not a good idea, but often a last resort for a frantic business owner.  In reality he owed the bank and the IRS over a million dollars.  Is he a hero or just a financial fool? Beth Carroll