The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has finally gotten some legs, with permanent loan modifications doubling last month compared to December, according to the Treasury. More than 116,000 homeowners have now received permanent HAMP modifications and another 76,000 have been offered to borrowers, with only the borrower signature in the way of being finalized....
Daily Archives: February 18, 2010
Walking Away from Underwater Mortgages
In the wake of the housing bubble and the lingering economic downturn, 23% of homeowners now owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are so far underwater that they have no reasonable hope of creating equity until the housing market fully recovers. For the hardest hit areas, this could take...
Short sales not always a short process
Comments (7) With so many homes worth less than the balance of the loan, many more people are turning to short sales. A short sale is when your lender agrees to let you sell your house at a loss rather than let the home go into foreclosure. But it’s no slam-dunk. Sara Williams and her...
Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System
Recently, Anthem Blue Cross of California, an insurance company owned by the for-profit company WellPoint, Incorporated, announced that its individual market premiums would rise by as much as 39 percent in the coming months. This shocking increase isn’t unique. Across the country, families have seen their premiums skyrocket in recent years, and experts predict...
Number of modified mortgages jumps sharply
Under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, monthly payments were permanently lowered for 116,297 loans by the end of January, up from 66,465 a month earlier. Reporting from Washington – The number of mortgages with permanently lowered monthly payments under the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program increased dramatically in January. In all, the number...
