That high interest in the late 70s affected people in different ways. Before the rates went up, my mother sold her house and banked the money, in time to ride through 'on high' with the longest term certificates she could get. As the old song went, ye gods, how the money rolled in.

Both that and the current default situation were the result of lack of Federal policies on loans and interest; the current one because the Fed threatened discrimination suits if lenders did not relax the rules. Lenders went along with the relaxation of the rules.