The number of homeowners who have received modifications of their existing mortgages under the Federal government’s HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) continues to climb. More than one million modifications of existing mortgages are active, as of the recently-released February stats. The percentage of modifications that have hit permanent status has also risen, to 17...
With the Obama administration and private lenders considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory for taxpayers who receive such assistance. The IRS gets involved in mortgage principal write-downs because the federal tax code generally treats any forgiveness of debt in excess of $600...
Washington, D.C. – March 9, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Treasury Department’s allocation of $700 million to California’s housing finance agency under the President’s most recent $1.5 billion initiative to prevent foreclosures in the five hardest hit states. “Today’s announcement is a step in the...
Targeting California and the four other states hardest hit by the housing crisis, President Obama on Friday offered a $1.5 billion “innovation fund” to devise solutions for homeowners struggling against foreclosure. “What we can do is help families that have done everything right to stay in their homes,” Obama said at a town hall...
On Saturday, I wrote a post containing some ideas to make principal reductions more palatable to banks. Right now, banks want nothing to do with them, mostly because they don’t want to declare big, immediate losses. I’ve subsequently gotten several comments and e-mails about what I proposed. I want to clear a few things...
Question: As one of the 160,000-plus people waiting in the pipeline to apply for a mortgage reduction at the same lender mentioned in your recent column, I was greatly puzzled by one point in your article: “If you show negative cash flow, your application will be denied, period.” Isn’t having a negative cash...
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....
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...
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...
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