Plan may help more avoid foreclosureBy Susan Tompor
Detroit Free Press
Monday, May 12, 2008
The grim outlook for the U.S. housing market means we're hearing more strategies for solving this mess. The debate on how to fix things is likely to get more intense. What do you do to prevent foreclosures by homeowners who are having trouble making their payments but can't refinance because of declining home values? Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said recently that more-active government intervention is required now to help some families hold on to their homes and prevent even more foreclosures. The situation, she said, can't be resolved just by modifying loans for individual homeowners. A broader approach is needed to help more borrowers avoid foreclosure in coming months. "Given the scale of the problem, this really cannot be done loan by loan," Bair said at the conference for the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in Baltimore. The FDIC recently said it will propose that Congress authorize the Treasury Department to make loans to some borrowers who can't afford their mortgage payments. The loans would be called Home Ownership Preservation Loans. The Treasury Department would make loans to homeowners to pay down as much as 20 percent of the principal on their mortgages. Borrowers would be required to repay the restructured mortgages and the preservation loans. The proposal is designed to result in no cost to the government. It would require full repayment of the loan and its financing costs. Mortgage investors would pay the first five years of interest due to the Treasury on the Home Ownership Preservation Loans. After five years, borrowers would begin repaying those loans at fixed Treasury rates. The FDIC's outline of the plan said a Treasury public debt offering of $50 billion would be needed to fund modifications of about 1 million loans that were "unsustainable at origination." So what do homeowners do as the debate unfolds? --Don't think the problem will go away. Contact the mortgage servicer listed on your billing statement. Bair advised being persistent when you call for help. --Find a reputable housing counselor. Call (888) 995-4673, a counseling service provided by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, an alliance of nonprofit credit-counseling agencies, for-profit lenders and mortgage industry groups. --Do not fall for costly, quick-fix deals. "They should not pay someone several hundred dollars for a loan modification," Bair said. |
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Comments
This article has 3 comment(s)
Posted by marina on May 13, 2008 at 1:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If Home Ownership Preservation Loans come into force it will be of great help to homeowners facing foreclosure.
Also Ignoring foreclosure in the initial stages & assuming it's not going to affect you will only diminish the chance of not only closing the many options of avoiding foreclosure but also makes you panic & frustrated to take any decision. It's sad to see so many people loosing their dream home to foreclosure. When you are behind your mortgage payment say for 1 or 2 months it's better to do your homework about options available to prevent foreclosure & the best that may suit you to avoid it. Time is definitely not your friend in this situation. Each day that passes makes it that much harder to get a work out agreement with your lender that you can live with. The home foreclosure process can take anywhere from a few weeks to many months, depending on the state law and the method of foreclosure the lender chooses to use.
Posted by marina on May 13, 2008 at 1:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If Home Ownership Preservation Loans come into force it will be of great help to homeowners facing foreclosure.
Also Ignoring foreclosure in the initial stages & assuming it's not going to affect you will only diminish the chance of not only closing the many options of avoiding foreclosure but also makes you panic & frustrated to take any decision. It's sad to see so many people loosing their dream home to foreclosure. When you are behind your mortgage payment say for 1 or 2 months it's better to do your homework about options available to prevent foreclosure & the best that may suit you to avoid it. Time is definitely not your friend in this situation. Each day that passes makes it that much harder to get a work out agreement with your lender that you can live with. The home foreclosure process can take anywhere from a few weeks to many months, depending on the state law and the method of foreclosure the lender chooses to use.
Below is a link to FAQs on Foreclosure
http://www.mortgagebuyerbasics.com/forec...
Posted by mershadonn on May 17, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sea Pro plant to close as boating industry falters
About 175 workers losing jobs end of June
By Kyle Stock (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, May 17, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
the sky is falling. No its not !! Be Happy go buy a Boat!Refinance your house and you will be OK! We have some really great re fi ideas, how about the one year interest only product for you today ?? My SUV eats gas ,no no no it is ok since George wants to talk smack with the Saudis it will be OK !
a few years later : foreclosures littering America and gas is 4$ a Gallon and there is more unemployment then the people see .
I never applied , and just lost my house to forclosure. It went on Tuesday at the Dorchester County sale .
So you see , the sky DID fall and it is NOT OK since now I am homeless , since I DID get the SUV and I did get the ARM .What I couldnt get was a good job .
BTW George, nice to see you were happily flying on Airforce One to Texas for a personal reason while my house was being foreclosed on , and that you could not get the Saudis to help out thier good American Allies and pump more oil...
So we will see what those unemployment and foreclosure numbers are in 3 and 6 months .
betcha it will be worse ..
See you all on the Streets .