I’ve been intermittently watching today’s TARP Accountability hearings held by the House Financial Services Committee.
Executives from eight financial institutions that received TARP funds are being grilled about how they spent the public money that was given to them.
Three of the eight executives (Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America) just verbally agreed to a 3-week moratorium on owner-occupied home foreclosures. [...]
The House of Representatives will begin overhauling the Hope for Homeowners Program the first week of February.
This program was launched in the Summer of 2008 and was meant to help approximately 400k homeowenrs refinance. To date, however, the program has only received 450 applications with 25 closed loans. A poor testament to the program’s efficacy.
The House will attempt [...]
Loan modifications are often used to generically describe several things that happen with mortgages. In fact, repayment plans are often called Loan Modifications.
The best example of this are the Hope Now Loan Modifications. These are really repayment plans designed to help borrowers catch up on their arrearages.
Approximately 70% of these repayment plans (erroneously called Loan modifications) re-default. This [...]
In an effort to stem foreclosures, the Fed announced today that it may come to the aid of some troubled borrowers by requiring loan servicers to modify Fed-owned and Fed-controlled mortgages.
Specifically, The Fed will put pressure on 1) loan servicers of mortgages that the Fed wholly owns and 2) loan servicers of mortgages that the Fed partially owns (because the mortgages are part of a MBS or CDO).
The Fed can do this [...]
Property taxes are locked-in at the time you purchase your house and are based on the purchase price, and many troubled homeowners purchased their houses during the rise or at the height of the real estate market.
Approximately 60% of homeowners in the U.S. are paying property taxes that are no longer commensurate with current property values. In light [...]
Here is a link to an Associated Press article that offers tips for renters when the landlord faces foreclosure:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28392662/
So many renters of homes find themselves evicted or in limbo when the house they rent goes into foreclosure through no fault of their own.
Fannie Mae is in the process of devising a new national policy that applies to non-owner-occupied homes. It will halt evictions and allow tenants to remain in their rental homes even though the properties they [...]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced today that they are suspending foreclosure sales of owner-occupied homes from November 26, 2008 to January 09, 2009. Forecloaure sales for second homes and investment properties will not be suspended.
They are doing this while they create new procedures for the streamlined loan modification plan that I discussed in my post dated [...]
The answer to this question could be in the difference between your Loan Servicer and your Note Holder.
Recall the classic Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
In “George Bailey” days, the Bank or S&L that originated your loan was also likely to remain your Note Holder for the entire term of your loan or [...]
Today, a unified effort on the part of the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the 27 loan servicers of the Hope Now program announced a new, streamlined plan to speed-up loan modifications for distressed homeowners.
The plan will help qualified homeowner’s (with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans) facing foreclosure [...]