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....
Mortgage
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...
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...
Mortgage Modifications Rise as U.S. Program Grows
By Theo Francis Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Mortgage modifications made permanent last month under President Barack Obama’s foreclosure prevention initiative exceeded for the first time the pace of trial plans started as aid to homeowners began to take hold. Modifications made permanent jumped 75 percent in January from December, while new trials rose about...
US banks take hit to clear home loan books
Big US banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are moving to clear their books of troubled mortgages by embracing “short sales”, in which homeowners settle debts by selling their properties for less than the mortgage value. Short sales are expected to climb sharply this year as home values continue...
Federal Reserve moves to benefit mortgage-seekers
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, suggested in testimony to be delivered to Congress, that the Fed is not likely to “sell any of its securities holdings in the near term, at least until after policy tightening has gotten under way and the economy is clearly in a sustainable recovery.” The recent purchase,...
