Page 1 of 3Next
The Foreclosure Rescue Mirage
How the government’s flagship homeowner relief program hangs borrowers out to dry.
Wed Aug. 26, 2009 2:59 AM PDT
Fausto Ordoñez tells his story for what must be the 10th or the 15th time, but the edge in his voice is as fresh as if this were the first. It began near the end of 2007, as the Great Housing Crisis swept across the country and all but wiped out Ordoñez's real estate business in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unable to keep up with his mortgage payments, Ordoñez turned to his mortgage company, Texas-based Saxon Mortgage Services, looking for options to help him save his home. Yet more than a year later, as the crisis deepened and the federal government rolled out its multibillion-dollar homeowner relief initiative, Ordoñez’s fate was as unclear as ever—and his drawn-out negotiations with Saxon had turned into a nightmare.
By the time the Treasury Department unveiled the centerpiece of its foreclosure prevention efforts, the $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, in March 2009, Ordoñez had endured countless setbacks. Saxon had first told him to stop making mortgage payments in order to qualify for a modification, then attempted to foreclose on his home when he followed the company's instructions—the first of several foreclosure attempts by the company. As Ordoñez grew ever more desperate, he filled out the same paperwork on multiple occassions only to be told the company had lost it. Then, for an eight-month stretch, Saxon ceased contact with him altogether, no longer even sending him monthly bills. "It was one screwup of theirs after another," he says.
When HAMP was announced, it offered Ordoñez a glimmer of hope. But Saxon wouldn't modify his mortgage under the Obama administration's much touted program. So he took matters into his own hands, filing complaints with the offices of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and the Texas attorney general and contacting CBS News with his story. That outside advocacy, Ordoñez insists, is the only thing that saved him: In late June, he finally got his government modification. By then he estimates he'd called Saxon more than a hundred times, lost more than $4,000 on deposits for moving companies and rental housing when it looked as if he’d lose his home, and saw his credit damaged after multiple foreclosure attempts.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Believe it or not, Ordoñez is one of the lucky ones. It wasn't easy, but he was able to take part in the government's program and keep his home. Thousands of struggling homeowners have been less fortunate, which raises serious questions about the efficacy of the administration's foreclosure rescue strategy. Interviews with homeowners, consumer advocates, attorneys, government officials, and lending experts all suggest that HAMP, now almost six months old, has struggled mightily to live up to its hype. Hundreds of pages of congressional testimony likewise detail the program’s flaws and shortcomings. And the numerous lawsuits filed against mortgage servicers participating in HAMP alleging shoddy lending practices suggest the companies the Treasury is relying on to execute HAMP may be ill suited to rescue struggling homeowners. Just the same, they are poised to receive millions—even billions—in taxpayer money for participating in the program.
Industry experts are now questioning how many of the program’s estimated 235,000 modifications will actually benefit homeowners in the long term, and say that homeowners clamoring to participate in HAMP have created an industrywide logjam for mortgage servicers, resulting in substantial delays and backed-up customer service support. The Treasury’s first servicer performance report (PDF), covering March to July 2009, found that servicers had offered modifications to just 15 percent of eligible delinquent homeowners, and initiated them for just 9 percent of that group. (And that total doesn't include homeowners who are less than 60 days delinquent or those with delinquency right around the corner, facing what's called "imminent default"—which means the percentage of HAMP modifications to date is surely even lower than 9 percent.)
Meanwhile, the fallout from the housing market’s stunning collapse continues to worsen. More than 360,000 foreclosures took place in July, a 7 percent increase from June and a 32 percent jump from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, 13 percent of mortgage loans were delinquent in the second quarter of 2009, the highest since the trade group began tracking the data in 1972. Lawmakers in Washington, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the powerful House financial services committee, have begun to voice doubts over whether HAMP servicers are doing enough to help homeowners. Now Frank and Durbin are revisiting the idea of allowing bankruptcy court judges to modify mortgage terms, an option called “cramdown” that the Senate rejected earlier this year. Jack Guttentag, professor of finance emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who runs The Mortgage Professor website, is unflinching in his assessment of HAMP: “At this point, I would have to say it’s a failure.”
HAMP’s problems began before the program had a name. Racing to provide relief to ailing homeowners as foreclosures mounted, President Obama traveled in late February to Mesa, Arizona, the city with the fifth-highest foreclosure rate nationwide in 2008, to announce the government’s rescue plan. While short on details, this program, he told a packed crowd at Mesa’s Dobson High School, could help as many as 3 to 4 million homeowners. “By making these investments in foreclosure prevention today, we will save ourselves the costs of foreclosure tomorrow—costs that are borne not just by families with troubled loans,” he explained, “but by their neighbors and communities and by our economy as a whole.”
Initial guidelines (PDF) for HAMP didn't emerge for several more weeks. But that didn’t stop struggling homeowners from flooding their mortgage companies, which largely lacked the capacity to handle the deluge. "Think of the mounds of paper coming in on a daily basis," says Joseph Smith II, president and CEO of Kentucky-based Default Mitigation Management, a private loan workout and negotiation company. "The rollout and everything else, it should never have been announced until the policies and procedures were in place."
In theory, HAMP works like this: Eligible borrowers, including homeowners behind on their payments or with a serious chance of default, apply for a program modification through their mortgage servicers—the companies that handle day-to-day responsibilities like taking payments, providing customer service, and foreclosing on those in default, but often don’t own the mortgage itself. If accepted, the homeowner’s monthly payments are lowered under HAMP terms, which say the new payments should not be more than 31 percent of the homeowner’s income. Servicers can lower payments by decreasing the interest rate, extending the term of the mortgage, or even forgiving part of the principal—the total amount owed. HAMP calls for a 90-day trial period for the new modification, and if the homeowner pays those three trial payments on time, the modification is finalized and extended over several years. For each successful HAMP modification, servicers receive a $1,000 incentive payment, and can earn $1,000 more each year (for up to three years) that borrowers stay in the program.
The problem is that the Obama administration gave mortgage servicers little more than a heads-up before rolling out its program, leaving companies to play catch-up once HAMP was announced. A vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Mary Coffin, told the Senate banking committee in July that the percentage of loan workout inquiries from borrowers who are current increased from, on average, 5 to 10 percent a month to 40 percent since HAMP was implemented. Further complicating matters, the Treasury has continued to tweak the new program’s details while giving servicers little advance notice. “The current method of publicly announcing new guidelines or changes concurrently with their effective dates creates immediate demand with insufficient lead time for operational readiness,” Allen Jones, an executive for default management policy at Bank of America, testified to Congress in mid-July. “This can lead to negative customer experience and, ultimately, backlash against the programs.”
"Negative customer experience" is putting it mildly. One Connecticut woman described her ongoing struggle to modify her mortgage as her "worst nightmare." Simply getting someone on the phone who can help or who has any authority, homeowners say, can be a maddening endeavor. "I would call all the time, all the time," says Tangi Smith, a single mom living in Lake Worth, Florida, who's been trying to get a HAMP modification with CitiMortgage. "You just get this big circle jerk."
Page 1 of 3Next
Comments
Too Bad
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 4:34 AM PDT.
It's difficult to feel sorry for the individual homeowners who don't get the government to magically erase their problems. My husband and I bought a $50,000 fixer-upper in Vermont in 2003, and put our own money into it to basically renovate everything. We knew that the payment was low enough that we could continue to afford it even if only one of us was working, which was what happened when I decided to stay home with our kids. And because the payment was low, we managed to continue to save money to float us by when my husband was recently laid-off for three months.
People signed onto loans that they should have known that they could not afford. It doesn't take a PhD in math to figure out what would happen if the rate changed or a person lost a few months of income. This isn't saying that the government is also to blame for its lax rules. But people should take some kind of personal responsibility.
But as I sit here in my modest home reading about people losing their "dream homes," I really don't feel sorry at all for them. Maybe I don't have my "dream home" yet, but I still have my home. They thought they deserved a great McMansion right off the bat and now they are paying the price. They should have known better. Now taxpayers like me who did know better are supposed to bail them out. No Thanks.
Heartless and Smug
Submitted by I'm Just Sayin' (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 5:47 AM PDT.
O.K., "Too Bad" we get it. You don't care about millions of families dispossessed from their homes; desperately struggling folks and their children literally forced out onto the streets to fend for themselves. Neighborhoods filled with abandoned homes that these same families could have continued to occupy as renters, if someone in D.C. or even say, Vermont, cared a little more about regular folks than about bankers. That doesn't bother you. We get it.
But for the rest of us folks (even those of us who regularly make our mortgage payments) we DO give a damn, even about folks who make mistakes, or more often than not were misled by unscrupulous mortgage brokers. And maybe you should too since you're so concerned about your tax money being wasted. Chew on this-- if these default rates aren't significantly reduced in the near future, you can kiss the possibility of a meaningful economic recovery goodbye, in which case, get ready to have a lot more of your precious tax dollars wasted on attempting to keep insolvent zombie banks in business. If they can't make a market for those CDOs then they will not become solvent anytime soon and we will continue to bail them out over and over again. Maybe you need to rethink the situation as you sit there in the warmth of your modest Vermont home. Cause if we don't stop these defaults soon it will be "too bad" for all of us! I'm just sayin'.
Jesus Christ in a birchbark canoe
Submitted by RW Twain (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 11:20 PM PDT.
"Maybe you need to rethink the situation as you sit there in the warmth of your modest Vermont home."
Perhaps you should stop and think about the situation altogether.
You assert that it is a justifiable power of government to save individuals, or to tax the whole for the benefit of the few, either wealthy or impoverished. You place full blame on mortgage brokers for sins they could not commit alone, while pushing for intervention on stop-gapping CDS defaults as the panacea for saving the economy. Given that tripe, you launched a salvo against the Vermont poster for smugness?
The VT poster was simply enunciating a view that success and overall happiness in life are dependent upon personal responsibility in a person's actions. That poster did not overpay for the house, and apparently made the commitment to labor sweat equity in to the "modest Vermont home" to provide for her own comfort. Repairs weren't likely financed on credit cards or a cash out HELOC, but spent from dollars that the poster would rather not have taxed for the benefit of those who failed to exercise the type of financial responsibility required in adulthood.
You seemingly argue for tax dollars to be used for the ongoing support of the disendomiciled and flipperquesters, but not for corporate welfare. I agree on the latter point, but am repulsed by the former. I'll pay taxes for the convenience of the roads, rails and post, willingly endure expenditure of my earned, but lost wealth for police, fire, schools and the like (perhaps even universal health care), but I will never condone the taking of my wealth for use in unjustified wars, bureaucratic inefficiency, fraudulent public spending or welfare for individuals who failed to comprehend the long-term consequences of their instant, exhibited avarice. Calculating that as a total, I unwillingly endure 75% of all current federal spending and perhaps 15% of state spending.
A recovery won't be obtained from rewarding those you have failed. Support for those who are justifiably downtrodden underlies the eventual recovery of the US economy, but it should not be drawn entirely on the backs of citizen taxpayers. We can't have a recovery of the economy until the majority of us, masters and slaves, Congresspeople and lobbyists, aging, hippie liberal douches and pissed off, redneck conservatives, rediscover the enlightenment that is personal responsibility and morally upright behavior.
Until that time, it's simply pissing in the wind.
Ever heard of something
Submitted by Healthcare is a TAX on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:20 PM PDT.
Ever heard of something called personal responsibility? Oh, wait a minute, you're obviously a liberal so that phrase isn't in your lexicon. Whether these people listened to the advice of a mortgage broker or not, they knew what their own personal finances were before they signed the papers. If the mortgage broker lied to them and told them they could afford a payment that was too high for them then he/she was wrong in doing so, but the consumers who signed those agreements should have questioned how they were going to make payments with money they knew they did not have. Nobody forced them to sign the fraudulently approved mortgage papers, and in so signing they became a willing partner to the fraud. If anything, these people should be prosecuted for fraud and not bailed out by the taxpayers.
I totally agree with you.
Submitted by Yomi owoyemi (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 2:51 PM PDT.
I totally agree with you. All home owners get statement from the county they live in on the value and tax on their homes. Counties assigned values to these homes and taxes paid are pegged to these values.
When a county assess a property to be a certain value and we are glad to pay less property tax. Then allow ourself to be "duped" in to higer value for a property, take out loans etc. While knowing that the property tax being paid is a lot less than the ghost value put on these homes.
I do not pity these folks
greedy and thieves most of them
You obviously are clueless
Submitted by Healthcare is a TAX on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:28 PM PDT.
You obviously are clueless as to how property tax is computed. The assessed value on your tax bill is NOT the amount that your tax is computed on. That is only part of the equation. There is a multiplier that is used in conjunction with the assessed value that varies from town to town. You need to find out from the office of the assessor what the multiplier for your area is.
Example: your tax bill shows an assessed value of $100,000 which gives you the impression that your tax is based on that amount, but you don't know the multiplier for your area. The multiplier could be 3.5x which means your tax is computed based on a $350,000 property value, not a $100,000 property value. If your property is only worth $250,000, the town is collecting tax on an additional $100,000 that you do not owe. Many people get overcharged on their property tax because they think they are getting a bargain by being taxed on the lower figure when the town could be vastly overestimating the value of their property and charging them too much.
Too Bad
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Aug. 28, 2009 8:13 PM PDT.
Begar thy neighbour! Ever heard of it? Look it up. Post a sign out in front of your house with your words and let all know how you feel. So when that paramedic drives up they might just feel the same way and let you expire. You have no clue and have a very bad case of tunnel vision.
Wow
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 4:30 AM PDT.
Wow. You are the mean one. I'm all for helping my neighbors. Like the Twain poster wrote, I'm all for paying for roads and schools and health care for all. But I don't want to reward people who made very poor decisions. What is next, gov help for people who bought too much stuff at Urban Outfitters?
Mortgage Rescue
Submitted by Fausto Ordonez (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 6:36 AM PDT.
Great article, I feel bad for Andy, he knows as well as I do that even after three pages this article barely scratched the surface of the issues involved in this nightmare.
People have to first learn to read the article and understand the great majority of the defaults are investors purchasing investment homes.
A very small percentage actually pruchased homes they could not afford.
In my case, Saxon/Morgan Stanley was and is viscious and horrid to deal with. I welcome ANY Atttorney who would like to use my case to sue them for everything they are worth. Saxon/Morgan Stanley is the worst. I am still mad as he!! at them.
The multi-million dollar bonus guys are the ones who set the rules for loans and loan servicing and they are sided to be profitable to the company and not just or right to the homeowner. If your mortgage not holder feels your home will be profitable to foreclose on, they will at all cost.
In my case the Note is serviced by Saxon which is owned by Morgan Stanley and my note is owned by Merrill Lynch. Who is kidding who on the amount of colusion involved in this?
Hind site is 20/20 there was no way I would have thought my company would have gone out of business. I saved and purchased a home that was affordable.
It is still affordable and I am proving it now.
Too Bad, really are you so short sighted not to recognize that bad things happen to good people? The only thing I could have done was to have purchased a home for cash and had no mortgage. Well I guess thats my fault.
Saxon aka Morgan Stanley
Submitted by Kristina40 (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 8:31 AM PDT.
Exactly correct on them. I just got another robo call telling me my mortgage is delinquent with Saxon. I am in the third month of the trial period and they still haven't managed to get all my paperwork into the system. Check my homepage and read my diary about Homeowners getting screwed.
Thanks Andy! You did a great job on this and I know you worked very hard, kudos.
Heartless and Smug--can
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 9:44 AM PDT.
Heartless and Smug--can somebody give me a loan for maybe a half million so I can get whatever home I want, and then when I can't pay, I'll cry and whine about how Uncle Sam should bail me out.
The gov is partly to blame. And the bankers are the worst. But also to blame are the individuals who got into this situation. Can you honestly say that they deserve to be "bailed-out" because they thought they could afford a $700k house on $40k a year? Do you honestly think that we should continue to keep this bubble inflated by subsidizing their home payments on inflated values? THAT is what is hurting the rest of us.
My husband and I used to travel around and look at the giant houses and wonder how people could afford to pay the $300 or $500k for them. Now I know that they couldn't afford it. They were just being greedy, with an "I deserve" that big house mentality. "I deserve it even if I can't afford it."
It's sad--sad that these folks were so stupid, sad that they got taken advantage of. I'm all for loans--ones people can afford. They got in over their heads and now they are in trouble. But as a wise woman used to say--that's what you ass git.
Heartless and Smug
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 10:27 AM PDT.
Your lack of insight on the issue printed by Andy is truly a reflection of your understanding of the issue.
Lets first assume you only replied just to make a statement in general. Well good for you, now go find a blog so you can blind us all with your mindless dribble.
Our next assumption is that you did read the article and you are not understanding the issue the Mr Kroll has reported about. May I, and many others suggest you reread the article and realize the people Mr. Kroll has reported on are honest and with honest intention are doing the best they can to remain employed and make good on debts they can afford, and through all appearances want to make right by the lenders and pay the debt they owe.
It appears the Mr. Ordonez Mr. Kroll speaks of, is doing just that and it would also appear he is not looking for a hand out. It also appears that his once flourishing business was/is a victim of a fromidable recession that has made millions unemployed and in his same position.
Maybe you should direct your aim at those that took advantage of easy financing and are now looking for a bail-out to maintain those BAD investments. The reason for prices going up in homes is directly related to speculators looking for quick profits, NOT homestead owners looking for a place to raise a family.
Shame on you, I would say your Karma wreaks of pay back with that attitude.
Thank you
Submitted by Kristina40 (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 10:45 AM PDT.
My Husband and I both work very hard and he goes to school at night. We were not even delinquent in our mortgage until Saxon suggested I not make a payment until the trial period began. I am the Kristina Andy spoke with for his story. I didn't buy a house I couldn't afford at the time. I inherited a home with a mortgage from my Mother who I had been caregiving for. It is a long, horrific story that one day I will put to paper but at this time the wounds are too raw. Suffices to say our Health Care system leaves a lot to be desired and is no way the shining ray of light some would have us believe and that is if you have great insurance like Mom did. Anyhow, thanks again for sticking up for us, it grows tiresome being made into the villain that ruined America while people like Tom DeLay get a stint on "Dancing with the Stars"...go figure. What's next? Phil Gramm on ice?
Karma--what an interesting
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 11:53 AM PDT.
Karma--what an interesting concept, the idea of cause and effect. Get into a loan you can't afford--get foreclosed on--Karma. As I understand, the concept also implies some personal responsibility.
The HAMP program is clearly a disaster. It isn't going to help these people long-term, it's just going to keep prices inflated and give money to the banks. It doesn't look to me like the people want to pay the debts they owe--they want the terms of them changed so they pay less.
The people who developed these wacko loans are guilty--I didn't say that they weren't. I just think that it's reasonable to say that the people who borrowed the money are also responsible--nobody forced them into these loans. How long would it take to figure out how much your payment is going to change once the rate changes--10 minutes? 20? They agreed to those terms, foolishly.
I know--I'm a terrible person because I'm not crying tears for the people who couldn't take 10 minutes to figure out their payments and now they are stuck in a government program that isn't working. Wah.
not crying for people who overbought
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 2:56 PM PDT.
Except that your first response was to condemn those who bought houses that were more than they could afford without first asking if there was sufficient information to reach that conclusion about the specific individuals interviewed for this article.
Instead, you just made a blanket generalized statement and the implication was that the people interviewed in the article were such people--certainly you made no effort to distinguish the alleged individuals you target from those interviewed for the article.
so what would have happened to you and your modest home if, say, your spouse had been killed in an auto accident by a drunk driver? What is it, 40,000 are killed each year in the US in motor vehicle accidents and I don't know how many temporarily or permanently disabled. Sometimes, unexpected & bad things happen. Are those people to whom those things happen irresponsible?
If I lost my spouse, we have
Submitted by VTPoster (not verified) on Sun Aug. 30, 2009 4:27 AM PDT.
If I lost my spouse, we have sufficient life insurance that would pay for our house ten times over and support me and the kids until I was working full time again. And as I understand, there would also be survivor benefits for my children from Social Security. Our total payment is very low, and I could make it rather easily.
Bad things happen--everybody's got a hard luck story. You plan for them the best that you can and you deal with it when it happens. Our society has safety nets in place for disability (Social Security) and we aren't sending people to debtors prison. They can declare bankruptcy.
The question is whether or not the government should be bailing out people who made bad financial decisions. As far as I'm concerned, I don't think the banks should be getting bailed out, either.
It's interesting to read these comments and see how if a person disagrees with the government funding people to stay in homes that have inflated values that they couldn't afford in the first place, the poster is called "heartless." Maybe what is "heartless" is to make very bad financial decisions and expect the rest of society to keep them in a home that they shouldn't have bought in the first place.
Wah
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 12:28 PM PDT.
I am speechless at your assumption of the people Mr Kroll recognizes in the article.
You must have some magical insight to the motives of these folks.
We are talking job loss, crushed incomes, etc. as for cause and effect.
Do you assume that everybody has the same point of view you do, such as self centered reflection and lack of introspection?
I missed in the article where anybody Mr Kroll interviewed was looking for a hand-out rather then some attention so that the debt could be made good.
Hardships happen to people, maybe you should refuse to pay for these programs by withholding your income taxes to the government. Really make a statement about how terrible these people are, trying to pay a debt rather than run from it or clog our federal court systems with bankruptcy filings forcing even more creditors to do with out payments.
Wah, your assumptions of the individuals in the article is clear. Your assumption has also made it clear why many writers clearly check facts before writing about these issues. Your response clearly defines why assumptions are rarely correct or reported at motherjones.com.
To me Mr. Kroll and the people in the article are stand up individuals looking for a way in rather than a way out.
For far too long big banks/business has been sleeping in the coffers of our presidency. For me this reflects the direct reason it is time for people to be the number one concern rather than the banks. As far as I can see there was no reason to believe that any of these people would have defaulted on any loan if the economy maintained any normalcy.
Good insight WAH!
Preview of Health Care Reform
Submitted by khalderman (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 4:10 PM PDT.
All of you people out there advocating reform of the health care reform by the Obama Adminstration need to explain why that program will be run any better than HAMP
ROFLMAO
Submitted by Naturalist (not verified) on Fri Aug. 28, 2009 8:24 PM PDT.
Your kidding right. These people seem to be unable to think things through. You do realize that HAMP is being administered by private organizations right? So you are admitting that private organizations are unable to do anything right. Yes the government always does a better job for less cost. Example US Mail vs Fed X. US Mail is way cheaper. I use the VA Medical System and it is far better than the private system in many ways. One stop and it's all done. It could be better but hey they don't use as much money nor have it to use like the private system. People need to wake up and become wide eyed and bushy tailed that these people against helping other people are all about themselves. The really odd thing about it is that they don't even seem to care about their children and their grandchildren. Get this, most of them are Christians also. It's too insane.
forclosures/ Phil Graham
Submitted by Jim T. (not verified) on Wed Aug. 26, 2009 8:28 PM PDT.
America, Just be very glad that McCane did not become president. Phil Grahm at Treasury would have meant the end of life as we know it. In my opinion.
Over the last 18 months I've called Wachovia numerous times trying to modify my loan. I was promised by the Wachovia rep/salesman when refinancing to consolidate all my debt in late 2007, that we could modify at any time... In signing the new contract, he replied, it's in there, re Modification. Afterward, at home, there it was on page 21. One and a half lines making a vague reference to the possibility of modifying the loan at a future date.
I have retained counsel to deal with these heartless bastards. There are laws on the books that should put bankers in jail for a long long time. We'll see who gets theirs' in the end.
HAMP provided the mortgage
Submitted by iggy (not verified) on Thu Aug. 27, 2009 6:27 AM PDT.
HAMP provided the mortgage compaies the funds to modify the loans that were having problems. The mortgage companies DID NOT ramp up fast enough in order to fulfill the HAMP promise. THis time the government acted BUT private industry was the one who fell on their faces, MAINLY because they would RATHER have the homeowners fail than modify their loans.
HAMP
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Aug. 27, 2009 11:56 AM PDT.
Your are correct. These banks would much arather have a failed asset and land then a reduced interest note that will not perform as they promised to the note owners that leveraged these notes.
This is a huge problem. It will remain a problem. I think regulation of mortgaged bank securities and letting the US purchase and manage these notes as they do FHA notes is a better idea.
The servicers already operate on a thin margin. So every chance they get they do whatever they can to collect fees/fines on deliq. notes.
A rotten system all the way around.
It does not excuse the actions of the banks for trying to pass their own "modification" programs to twist more money out of borrowers. This arm twisting only serves the servicers and no the note owners.
One of the worst scams Saxon/Morgan Stanley does is to place your home in foreclosure and just a few day prior to the foreclsoure they provide you with the SAXON idea of a modification. You have ZERO time to look over the note or get any legal help.
In my case Saxon fed ex the documents to me on June 1st with the certified funds due June 1st and the foreclosure date being June 2nd at 1:30pm
They know exactly what they are doing and are instructed to treat ANY loan mods this way in order to put pressure on accepting the Saxon terms and not the HAMP terms.
Saxon/Morgan Stanley=Trash/thieves
foreclosure listings
Submitted by Foreclosure Listings (not verified) on Fri Aug. 28, 2009 5:39 AM PDT.
Foreclosure rescue needs to be pursued until the government finds a solution. It's a tough mission, but still is important not to give up. Many plans have been tried, and others must be created. We must win this fight
The federal government can’t solve this crisis on its own.
Submitted by David Petrovich, Executive Director SPOCH (not verified) on Fri Aug. 28, 2009 9:35 AM PDT.
Public-private programs can solve foreclosure crisis
If mortgage holders refuse to grant meaningful loan relief, let’s replace them with efficient, nonprofit organizations whose corporate objective is to preserve continued homeownership and work for the best interests of the owners.
How? Pay ’em off and buy ’em out. Instead of spending taxpayer dollars to fund the purchase of corporate jets or luxurious retreats, let’s put the dollars to work serving the needs of our economy and ensuring that taxpayers continue to believe in the great American dream of homeownership. To initiate this program, funds could come from the Federal Home Loan Bank System or the Federal Reserve Banks, Treasury Department programs, or from state programs distributing federal funds.
Read more: http://www.njbiz.com/weekly_article.asp?aID=67205954.9138786.1023646.973...
Government not doing enough
Submitted by heeltastic (not verified) on Fri Aug. 28, 2009 6:50 PM PDT.
Too many home owners are getting turned down for having their mortage modified. I heard somewhere that only 10% of those that apply actually end up with a successful remodified mortage. The rest get turned down by their lender.
4 too bad
Submitted by Anonymous123 (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 10:28 AM PDT.
Bought a fixer upper in Ohio.
At age 43 my wife died. Net income drops 35%.
Not everyone is the big over their income mortgaged crooks you seem to think.
Bankers screwed up they get bailed out.
Little mortgage holders circumstances change and they get screwed over.
It is called circumstances and they change.
Vermont, may the fates continue to treat you gently.
It's a terrible thing, true,
Submitted by Healthcare is a TAX on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:41 PM PDT.
It's a terrible thing, true, but you should have planned beforehand for every possible contingency before getting into a long term debt like a mortgage. Did you carry life insurance on your wife? Did you carry enough to pay your bills if she should predecease you? Do you carry life insurance on yourself? Will your survivors be able to pay off your debts with what you leave behind? If your answer to any of these questions is 'no', then you haven't adequately planned for the future and your inability to pay your mortgage now is a result of your own poor planning. The taxpayers should not now be on the hook for your own lack of foresight.
educate me
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 12:07 PM PDT.
I bought long enough ago to have it paid off before the crash.
So I just don't understand the situation: why don't people just go ahead and let 'em foreclose?
You move into a rental at a smaller price, they're stuck with your old house that's not worth refinancing....if it were, they would be ready to modify your loan.
You delay owning a home you can't afford, they get to carry your empty house on their books for awhile--maybe they'll sell it back to you in a year.
Fascinating discussion. A
Submitted by PatR (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 2:08 PM PDT.
Fascinating discussion. A drop in income of 35% is justification for a loan mod? Did anyone even consider that they should borrow only what they could afford to pay back, even after suffering a modest income setback? When was borrowing to the max protected from risk? Where is the life insurance? Are we, the taxpayers, required to pay for everyone else's misfortunes or lack of spending restraint? When did it become heartless to ask basic questions like this?
People who don't get loan
Submitted by PatR (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 2:12 PM PDT.
People who don't get loan mods become homeless? The rest of us, who think it's ludicrously irresponsible to pay $1/2 mill for one consumer purchase, rent. There are lots of rentals available. This is not a homelessness issue.
Home Foreclosures
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 2:30 PM PDT.
Having just spent the entire weekend in the Phoenix area helping a good friend move due to foreclosure. It's an issue that's really in my face. I think that both smug in Vermont and those that say she's heartless are both right. The vast majority of people in America have until recently have very strange to me ideas about debt. You are basically taught from the time you enter college that debt is good after all you go into vast amounts of debt to go to a good school to get a good education. Then so you're told debt on a home is good, use your home like an ATM is good so you spend 30 years paying off a homeequity loan for item that wears out after 5.
My friend put down a 100k on a home it's now worth 200k less than what she bought it for and the arm has reset so she can't make the payments. She's moving in with her daughter. When she moved to Phoenix we had an interesting conversation I said "thier are lots of homes in the 150-200k price range why don't you buy one of those and then you've got a mortgage you could make working at Walmart"
She looked at me like I was insane, " Housing always appreciates, the schools are better and the high end home was a better investment. etc" She also asked me "Why I was always so worried about the economy going to hell. We are both well educated people. "
I told her because it has before and being in debt takes your freedom away my folks lost thier ranch in the 80's because they borrowed to become more effiecient and mechanized then the price of beef and hay went into the toilet" Then I joined the army and lived through the end of the cold war and the massive down sizing that went on then. You never know what is going to happen.
Hopefully, all this pain leads to a massive rethinking of debt and how we as a society view debt. It's not that the people losing thier homes were stupid they believed the conventional wisdom. Those of us who have tried to disassociate ourselves from the banking system as much as possible were seen as rather weird doomsday paraniods.
It will be a long time before we recover as the stock of houses just vacant in the suburban phoenix area was depressing and it will be years before all those homes are sold or possibly demolished.
I'm just glad that I made the choice to live in an older singlewide that I'm gradually remodeling as I have cash on the 5 acres of land that I actually own.
Own unless you can't pay the
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:05 PM PDT.
Own unless you can't pay the property taxes.
Other than that, you're right, you were smarter than many and didn't "drink the Kool Aid" that so many, mortgage brokers, friends, relative, marketers, banks, etc., worked so hard at selling to so many. I think there is another issue present too though--why individuals of limited education (or not) are supposed to be smarter than the people (usually white males) who were paid millions and are sometimes still paid millions for making some horrendous errors. Who still have golden parachutes (and some of them have used them) and how readily the gov't is bailing them out while the same people whose taxes or future indebtedness (and that of their kids) was so readily & easily handed over to them.
These were people who allegedly were the cream of the crop. The issue is: how come they're being bailed out so fast and why is one standard of responsibility being applied to them and their actions, while those of allegedly less accomplishment & ability and almost always substantially, significantly way less compensation, are treated so differently and held to a higher standard of care?
Because that seems to be the case, both national (state & federal gov'ts) and by quite a few people. Why do you think that is? More propaganda?
It's because they ultimately
Submitted by Healthcare is a TAX on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:46 PM PDT.
It's because they ultimately want only two classes in the world. Rich and poor. They want to eliminate the middle class, so the rich get bailouts and the rest get made homeless. Nothing drops you out of the middle class and into the ranks of the poor faster than losing your home.
Fausto Ordoñez is a real estate agent
Submitted by Faustian Bargai... on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 3:09 PM PDT.
Fausto Ordoñez got into a pickle when his "real estate business in the Dallas-Fort Worth area" went sour. Shouldn't the government be playing ant to this grasshopper? How can Ordoñez plead ignorance of the market? How can he pretend shock when a bank tries to prevent him -- the textbook definition of a player who should have known better -- from deadbeating on a loan he understood fully? Or is he pleading that he's an incompetent real estate agent?
Mr. Ordoñez is indeed "one of the lucky ones." Government officials are forcing the comically named Saxon Mortgage Services to take a haircut for him. That transfer of value to Mr. Ordoñez is not dissimilar to giving more booze to an alcoholic. In this case, an alcoholic who already runs a liquor store.
Faustian
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Aug. 30, 2009 7:15 PM PDT.
Ordonez company went out of business as did thousands of other agencies, You think ordonez being a real estate agent makes a person have some sort of special insight? Especially in the DFW region?
He was one of the brave few people in this world that makes the united states what it is. He was an entrepreneur. His company goes out of business, and you say he is some sort of player?
Doesnt anybody ever read and understand literature? How do people read an article like this and then make a statement like this?
I dont see where he is ignorant to the market either.
faustian grow up and learn to read and analyze. Your supposition of what a rreal estate agent can do is grossly ignorant. You must think a doctor is God?
4 - Healthcare is a TAX and PatR
Submitted by Anonymous123 (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 7:53 PM PDT.
Tough room.
The point is no matter how well you plan you can't plan for everything.
And thank you very much I pay the mortgage with no help asked for nor would I consider asking.
But still you hammer on the little guys - whom you don't know and are blissfully oblivious to the double standard.
your shallow and insincere "judgments" sound like an insurance sale. Ha! What a hoot.
Assume
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Aug. 31, 2009 8:18 AM PDT.
I am amazed at the number of people who comment on assumptions based on heresay.
Our country is in trouble with these types of assumers. They wrongly and quickly draw assumptions on good things or situations.
Shame on you all
HAMP
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Sep. 2, 2009 6:02 AM PDT.
The government response has been on the order of FEMA and Katrina. The government is just too slow, like a zombie from the old horror movies, versus baddies like the ones in 28 Days Later.
Great article Mr. Kroll. Thank you for the links to documentation!
I highly recommend the Calculated Risk blog - see especially the articles by Tanta, if you want to know how it works.
Again, well written article.
Ordonez company went out of
Submitted by cheap bape shoes (not verified) on Fri Sep. 11, 2009 8:40 AM PDT.
Ordonez company went out of business as did thousands of other agencies, You think ordonez being a real estate agent makes a person have some sort of special insight? Especially in the DFW region?
He was one of the brave few people in this world that makes the united states what it is. He was an entrepreneur. His company goes out of business, and you say he is some sort of player?
cheap air jordan retro shoes
ED hardy hoody
cheap sb dunk shoes
cheap Air max shoes
cheap Bape Shoes
womens winter boots
womens cardy boots
air max shoes
Loan Mods by servicers not lawful
Submitted by The Equitable One (not verified) on Fri Sep. 18, 2009 11:05 AM PDT.
The article misses a very important point. In the case of a securitized p-note/mortgage a loan servicer is no longer a party to the contract and thus lacks the legal capacity to alter the terms of the contract.
The very recent case (August 18, 2009) of Greenwich v Countrywide deals, in part, with this issue. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Holwell, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72885.
Greenwich did not bother contesting Countrywide's authority to modify loans, instead focusing the issue on specific language in the Pooling and Servicing Agreement (the contract between the "servicer" and the "pool" or "trust) that requires loan originators to repurchase, or buy back, nonperforming loans.
The PSA says ""Countrywide may agree to a modification of any Mortgage Loan (the 'Modified Mortgage Loan') if . . . Countrywide purchases the Modified Mortgage Loan from the Trust Fund . . . ."
I have read numerous PSA's and have not seen one that authorizes a loan servicer to modify a loan and then pass the losses on to investors. I have encountered language similar to that above requiring loan originators to buy back nonperforming loans. Loan originators commonly maintain rights to servicing the loans and thus are commonly the loan servicers, but this is not always the case.
I have also not seen one example of "investors" agreeing to modify loans. As investors are the owners and holders of the instruments, and thus are party to the contract, they are the only entity (other than the borrower) that have the legal capacity to modify the terms of the loan.
It will be interesting to see how the case, now remanded to back to New York state courts, progresses. And this particularly in light of the ways many of the New York jurists have been deciding cases in favor of borrowers.
TEO
Hot miniclip Action Games
Submitted by Ghost (not verified) on Sat Sep. 19, 2009 2:10 AM PDT.
Hot miniclip Action Games Barbie Dress up Games Bratz Girls Games Cartoons Games Celebrity Games Coloring Pages Games Cooking Games Drive Games Girls Dress up Games Kids Games
Makeover Girls Games
Other
Puzzle Racing
Roiworld Games
Room Decor Games Shooting
Sports Games
العاب
girls games
العاب هانا مونتانا
العاب فلة
hguhf
العاب طبخ
العاب باربي
العاب بنات جديدة
العاب
موقع العاب
العاب سيارات
العاب سبيستون
العاب براتز
العاب اولاد
العاب بنات فقط
العاب قص شعر
العاب مجانيه
العاب ستروبري شورت كيك
العاب رقص
العاب بنات
العاب
العاب بنات
العاب تلبيس
العاب اولاد
العاب براتز
العاب باربي
العاب طبخ
العاب مكياج وميك اب
العاب اطفال
العاب سيارات
العاب قص الشعر
العاب
العاب فلاش
العاب ماريو
العاب بنات
العاب g9g
العاب
العاب بنات
العاب طبخ
العاب اكشن
العاب سيارات
العاب باربي
العاب طبخ
العاب باربي
العاب بنات جديدة
العاب
موقع العاب
العاب سيارات
العاب سبيستون
العاب براتز
العاب اولاد
العاب بنات فقط
العاب قص شعر
العاب مجانيه
العاب ستروبري شورت كيك
العاب رقص
العاب بحرية
العاب زوارق
العاب جديدة
العاب فلة
العاب هانا مونتانا
يوتيوب
العاب
العاب بنات
girls games
العاب g9g
العاب براتز
العاب اولاد
hguhf
عيش سفارى
العاب تلبيس باربي
العاب براتس
العاب بنات شمس
يوتيوب
العاب
العاب بنات
العاب
العاب بنات
العاب تلبيس
العاب اولاد
العاب براتز
العاب باربي
العاب اكشن
العاب تلبيس زفاف
العاب سونك
العاب
العاب ماريو
العاب
العاب باربي
العاب مكياج و ميك اب
العاب طبخ
العاب تلبيس بنات
العاب ترتيب
العاب ديكور
العاب بنات
العاب اطفال
العاب كرتون
العاب سيارات
العاب اكشن
العاب ذكاء
العاب دراجات
العاب رياضية
العاب قتالية
العاب بازل و متاهات
العاب ورق
العاب تصويب ونشان
العاب حربية
العاب فلاش
العاب مغامرات
العاب تلوين
العاب عربية
العاب قص الشعر
العاب تلبيس فنانات و مشاهير celebrity
العاب بنات دولز
صور
فيديو
العاب
منتدى العاب شمس
توبيكات
برامج ماسنجر
افلام
مسجات
قصص وروايات
برامج كمبيوتر
رموز ماسنجر
العاب شمس اكشن
العاب شمس تلوين
العاب شمس فلاش
العاب شمس فلاشات مضحكة
العاب شمس دراجات و دبابات
العاب شمس طبخ
العاب شمس العاب
العاب شمس قتال و حركة
العاب شمس اطفال
العاب شمس تلبيس
العاب شمس عربية
العاب شمس براتز
العاب شمس سونيك
العاب شمس تلبيس افراح
العاب شمس مغامرات و الغاز
العاب شمس ذكاء
العاب شمس ميك اب
العاب شمس باربي
العاب شمس اولاد
العاب شمس قص الشعر
العاب شمس سيارات
العاب شمس كرتون
العاب شمس ورق
العاب شمس ترتيب غرف
العاب شمس ماريو
اخبار المراة
تدبير منزلى
ترفيه
عالم الحياة الززوجية
ملابس اطفال
قمصان نوم
نصائح طبخ
اطباق سريعة
معجنات
شوربات
ساندوتشات
ديكور
لفات طرح
لفات حجاب
عالم حواء
ريجيم ورشاقة
مطبخ حواء
ازياء
حناء
عطور
ميك اب
صور
قصص
اسعار الذهب
وظائف
فيديو
اتيكيت
فساتين محجبات
ازياء
اكلات
حلويات
الطب البديل والاعشاب
صحة المراة
العروس
اكسسوارات
مكياج
ديكور
عصائر و مشروبات
تفسير الاحلام
طبخ
العناية بالازواج
العاب بنات
العناية بالشعر والبشرة
صحة المراة
زواج
قمصان نوم
الثقافة الجنسية
عبايات
ديكور
العاب سيارات
العاب العروسة سيو دولز
العاب باربي barbie
العاب براتز
العاب تلبيس
العاب ديكور
العاب طبخ
العاب قص الشعر
العاب مشاهير
العاب مكياج
العاب هانا مونتانا
العاب تلوين
العاب حيوانات
العاب ديزنى
العاب سوبر ماريو و سونيك
العاب كرتون و انمى افلام و مسلسلات
العاب اولاد
العاب الغاز
العاب ذاكرة و ورق
العاب مغامرات و اثارة
العاب باربي
العاب اكشن و مغامرات بنات
العاب ديكور و ترتيب الغرف
العاب تلوين رسوم متحركة
العاب ازياء و فاشون و موضة التلبيس
العاب مشاهير
اخبار
افلام
افلام كرتون و مقاطع انمى
كليبات المرأه عالم حواء
كليبات و مقاطع متنوعة
مقاطع فضائح
مقاطع فيديو دينية اسلامية
مقاطع فيديو رياضية
123 peppy
مقاطع مضحكة
توبيكات
يوتيوب
العاب
games
العاب بنات
العاب شمس
برامج سوفت
عالم حواء
العاب بنات
العاب بنات يومية
العاب g9g
العاب
hot miniclip
نادى السيارات
عالم السيارات
دليل
العاب جيمز
برامج
برامج انترنت وشبكات
صور وسمايلات ماسنجر
اخبار
مسلسلات اجنبية
افلام اجنبية
تحميل افلام
تنزيل برامج
ثيمات موبايل
نغمات موبايل
شات
تحميل العاب
مسرحيات
افلام كرتون وانمى
اغانى
اناشيد
يوتيوب
توبيكات رومانسية
توبيكات اسلامية
برامج بورتابل portable
العاب تورنت
ميديا واعلانات
اناشيد طيور الجنة
صور
مسجات
قصص
توبيكات رومانسية
توبيكات اسماء
العاب صغيرة للاطفال
توبيكات اغانى
توبيكات اسلامية
صور سيارات
كاريكاتير
صور بنات
عالم حواء
ازياء
مطبخ
ديكور
برامج الكمبيوتر
برامج انترنت
العاب العرب
العاب هانا مونتانا
هانا مونتانا
تعاريف drivers
ويندوز 7 windows
برامج كمبيوتر
برامج نوكيا
ايفون iphone
تورنت
برامج تحميل و داونلود
webcam ويب كام
برامج تحويل الفيديو و الصوت
العاب كمبيوتر
جدار نارى فايروول firewall
Kaspersky Internet Security
antivirus انتى فايروس
فوتوشوب
برامج صور
برامج نت
WinRAR
ياهو ماسنجر
برامج فيديو وصوت
p2p
برامج عربية ومعربة
منتدى برامج سوفت
برامج
The only help I'm seeing
Submitted by REO (not verified) on Tue Sep. 22, 2009 8:45 PM PDT.
The only help I'm seeing from the goverment these days is the FHA hand out. Most inventory is moving thanks to that.
دردشه|العاب|منتديات|forum|العاب بنات|العاب طبخ|العاب تلبيس|العاب سيارات|games|منتدى بنات|banat forum|بنات ستايل|مسجات|ازياء|نكت|مركز تحميل|business directory|health|computers|business|شات حلا الرياض|chat|شات سعودي|دردشة كتابية|شات عربي|
دردشة صوتية|العاب اكشن|شات كويتي|نغمات نوكيا|دردشة سورية|العاب اطفال|العاب باربي|مكياج|تسريحات|فساتين سهره|العاب حرب|العاب قتال|خريطة 1|forex|games|land|العناية بالبشرة|society|عوانس|ياسر القحطاني|ناصر الفراعنة|مجلة روتانا|مجلة زهرة الخليج|قصة حياتي|شات بنات
HAMPless
Submitted by Andrew Winters on Thu Oct. 15, 2009 4:58 PM PDT.
This program continues to be a sick joke, months after this article was written. It is time Mother Jones wrote an update. When my wife and I ran into unexpected financial setbacks last year we hoped we would be able to obtain a modification of our mortgage via this much publicized and promised HAMP program. After supporting Obama and even giving money to him it is amazing to me how half-assed this so-called HAMP program is. I have the misfortune to have my mortgage with a federal credit union and they have decided they will simply not participate in HAMP. I have written to my congressman, Chris Van Hollen, to Senator Mikulski, to Secretary Geithner and to various other people who, I hoped, would help facilitate this process for us. There are specific instructions on the National Credit Union Administration website to enable credit unions to participate in HAMP; there are various measures they can take including selling shaky mortgages to Fannie Mae. Somehow, my credit union, the Mid Atlantic FCU, is able to ignore my imminent default. There is no help at all from the various people and agencies that are supposed to represent us either in the Congress or the various federal agencies that run this thing. It is a horrible fraud and it is time MoFo started hammering the Obama administration for its pathetic failure to make this thing work. Who are they really interested in helping? Is it the mortgage companies or people like me who go nuts to pay their mortgage every month?
Andrew
HAMPless
Submitted by Andrew Winters on Thu Oct. 15, 2009 4:58 PM PDT.
This program continues to be a sick joke, months after this article was written. It is time Mother Jones wrote an update. When my wife and I ran into unexpected financial setbacks last year we hoped we would be able to obtain a modification of our mortgage via this much publicized and promised HAMP program. After supporting Obama and even giving money to him it is amazing to me how half-assed this so-called HAMP program is. I have the misfortune to have my mortgage with a federal credit union and they have decided they will simply not participate in HAMP. I have written to my congressman, Chris Van Hollen, to Senator Mikulski, to Secretary Geithner and to various other people who, I hoped, would help facilitate this process for us. There are specific instructions on the National Credit Union Administration website to enable credit unions to participate in HAMP; there are various measures they can take including selling shaky mortgages to Fannie Mae. Somehow, my credit union, the Mid Atlantic FCU, is able to ignore my imminent default. There is no help at all from the various people and agencies that are supposed to represent us either in the Congress or the various federal agencies that run this thing. It is a horrible fraud and it is time MoFo started hammering the Obama administration for its pathetic failure to make this thing work. Who are they really interested in helping? Is it the mortgage companies or people like me who go nuts to pay their mortgage every month?
Andrew
my opinion
Submitted by groupshoes (not verified) on Fri Oct. 23, 2009 12:32 AM PDT.
Nice airtical, i would like to tell all of my friends about it. By the way, i would like to introduce everyone of you a very nice website, it offers cheap air max trainers for men and women. Such as Air max 1, air max 2, air max 90, nike air max 2009+, air max 2010 new, nike air max TN, nike air ltd trainers, air max 95. Dunk SB shoes, nike shox shoes. You can find almost all the nike series there, in huge collection and varies colorways. They have Latest style and classic style. Though their price are low, don't worry about it's quality. They are realll ones!!! I have bought from them for so many times, and very satisfied with the their goods and service. Come on, you'll love it.
Interesting lack of compassion here, may you never NEED a bit
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Dec. 14, 2009 2:13 PM PST.
How nice for some able bodied folks that they can get a "fixer upper" and fix it up. I NOW have a fixer upper, but I'm in no condition, physically or financially to fix it up. I have lost income, and had other sources of income FLAT LINE for the last decade and nothing much left after paying the mortgage, apart from taxes and insurance.
I FINALLY DID GET A MODIFICATION, and that is going to allow me to pay FAR MORE THAN MY HOUSE is actually WORTH anymore. Especially after all the PADDING OF WHAT I OWE, as is permitted by the HAMP program.
I now have a balance, over five grand larger than what it had been, I now have a SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR NEGATIVE ESCROW, that was supposed to be included in my monthly payment, BUT WAS NOT, as they state, this was created AFTER the fact, when they paid past due taxes on my behalf, like they didn't KNOW they were there, after I had SUBMITTED THE BILLS TO THEM?
And all to what end, living month to month, with a payment that I can still barely manage. I will keep the home, I hope and maybe someday get enough income back to actually replace some of the 20 year old things, like the furnace, the water heater, the windows, the porch boards that are rotting, the gutters that need repair, three floors up. Maybe, someday.
yeah... BUT
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Jan. 8, 2010 1:10 PM PST.
Bate and switch tactics, crooked and in most cases illegal business practices are not the responsibility of those who are stuffering yet they are the ones being belittled because they are having difficulties. You may not know about the fact that Saxon actually foreclosed on a woman in TN that wasn't even deliquent, or that they serviced a loan that was given to an elderly couple on a fixed income that was more than their income. In some instances, their mortgage payments are lower than rental expenses. In our case, we DIDN'T buy more than we could afford nor were we irresponsible. We were scammed, our 30 yr fixed rate mortgage turned into a 2/28 ARM with an interest rate higher than we were quoted on the TIL. We were advised that they would fix all the paperwork and send us new copies. That never happened. The original mortgage company (new century) filed bankruptcy and we were snatched up by Saxon. At this point, businesses such as this, who continue to perform shady business practices should be held accountable for every loan they service. The safeguard for them is that they are the "servicer" The middleman who isn't responsible for the origination of the loan or the wrongful acts they (the orginator) participated in. The way I see it ... Illegal is still illegal. If we continue to allow businesses, government and companies to do business whoever they choose without having to be accountable for their actions then no wonder we are suffering the consequences of the past decade. As long as those bonuses are paid... who cares about the little guys. Just one bonus could have helped thousands of people. Sure, I trust that the Bank will give out money to help people... they would have been better off handing out bags of money on the street corner to those passing by. At least it would have been spent and not just given back a few months later.
Post new comment
MoJo Comments: Send Us Your Feedback
We changed our spam software to better filter comments. Should you encounter any issues, please let us know.
