Archive for the ‘Foreclosure Prevention’ Category

The Hidden Agenda of the Obama “Making Home Affordable” Plan

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

One of the requirements of the President Obama “Making Home Affordable” Plan is that homeowners who want to apply for this foreclosure prevention program must sign IRS form 4506T, which allows the mortgage company to get a copy of past tax returns.

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Columbia Profs Weigh in on Loan Modifications

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Three Columbia professors recently issued a proposal to prevent foreclosures through loan modifications. Their idea: pay the servicers an incentive to do them.

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Just Another Day in the Foreclosure Prevention Business

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

I’m on hold with a smaller servicer, checking the progress of three Fannie Mae files I’m working on to prevent foreclosure. They just informed me that one of the borrowers had just been approved in July for the Homesaver Advance (HSA).

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HUD Shuts Down Program to Prevent Foreclosure

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will shut down the FHA Secure Refinance program at the end of this year. The program, which was supposed to help 240,000 sub-prime borrowers to refinance into fixed rate FHA loans, fell just a little short of its foreclosure prevention goal.

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How the Loss Mitigation Industry Has Failed the Homeowner

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Has the loss mitigation industry failed the homeowner who’s trying to prevent foreclosure? There was an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal on a related topic:  Some Consumers Say Wall Street Failed Them. It talks about how the burden of risk and responsibility has been shifted to the consumer, while Wall Street manages to make (take) money at every turn.

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HUD Secretary’s Comments on Foreclosure Prevention

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

HUD Secretary Steve Preston spoke in front of the National Press Club on Wednesday regarding the current mortgage crisis, and HUD’s role in foreclosure prevention. I saw a re-broadcast on C-Span.

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FHA Foreclosure Prevention Faltering

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

It used to be, way back in 2005, that if you were working with a borrower who was behind on payments, you smiled when you learned that it was an FHA loan, because you knew that HUD foreclosure prevention programs were solid and reliable.

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Legislators Push for Foreclosure Prevention Czar

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Congressman Barney Frank and Representative Maxine Waters sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to place FDIC Chair Sheila Bair in charge of foreclosure prevention on mortgages acquired through the recently passed $700 billion legislation. You know, the one where the federal government was going to buy distressed mortgages? Never mind that they’ve already spent half of the money injecting capital into banks and NOT buying mortgages.

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Mortgage Insurers Taking Active Role to Prevent Foreclosure

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

In some ways, the interests of the mortgage insurance companies are more closely tied to homeowners who are trying to prevent foreclosure than anyone else involved in the foreclosure process. Housing Wire recently reported that Genworth Financial is expanding its pre-purchase education efforts to inform borrowers about their options if they fall behind on payments and need to prevent foreclosure.

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Poll Says Lenders Unable to Comply with Foreclosure Prevention Legislation

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

In July, I posed the question, “Will Mortgage Companies Take Advantage of the Foreclosure Bill?” With several logistical obstacles just off the top of my head, I predicted that there was no way that lenders were going to be able to handle Foreclosure Prevention Act mandates.

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