Obama administration to expand housing plan
Obama officials to expand housing aid to help borrowers who don't qualify for other assistance
The new initiatives are expected to streamline the process of selling a home that is worth less than the mortgage, or transfer ownership of a home to the lender. Both options will still ding the homeowner's credit score, but less than a foreclosure.
Since the program, called Making Home Affordable, was launched in March, Mortgage companies have made more than 55,000 offers to modify borrowers' loans.
"We're seeing the first signs of homeowners being able to take advantage of lower monthly payments that the program makes possible," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
While the number of success stories is growing, it pales compared to the rate of new foreclosures, and many housing counselors across the country are complaining that the Making Home Affordable is taking off slowly.
"Our experience at the ground level has been, so far, frustrating," said Michael van Zalingen, director of homeownership at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, a counseling group. Entry-level employees at mortgage companies, he said, are either steering borrowers away from the plan or are entirely unaware of it.
There are, of course, lucky homeowners like Daniel Iturriaga, 45, a warehouse worker from Compton, Calif. Working with a counselor from Springboard, a nonprofit counseling group, Iturriaga was able to get JPMorgan Chase & Co. and mortgage finance company Fannie Mae to modify his home loan.
He's going from a monthly payment of about $2,300 to about $1,275. After a three-month trial period, it should be final in mid-June.
"It's a long process, but I still have a little hope to stay in my home" said Iturriaga, who bought his home for about $400,000 in 2005 and has seen houses on the same block sell for about half as much. "I'm pretty happy."
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So far, 14 companies that service about three quarters of the mortgage market have signed up and will be paid for each loan they modify.
Since the program involves taxpayer dollars, "you want the rigor," said Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now, a mortgage industry group formed in response to the foreclosure crisis. "This is a very well-thought out plan," she said. "People have to be a little bit patient."
Я понимаю что банкам может быть выгодно получать 3% вместо 6% и иметь бумажку на владение $400,000 домом чем получить через 3-6 месяцев неуплаты процентов дом, который больше чем за 200к не продать и списать 200+к в убытки... я не понимаю какого это должно оплачиватся из наших налогов
