Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mortgage modification program looks like a bust with a 50% dropout rate

We have previously written about the Obama Administration’s program to encourage mortgage modifications.  Well, the news is in and it’s not good.

According to the Associated Press,
“Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who enrolled in the Obama administration's flagship mortgage-relief program have fallen out.
“The program is intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly mortgage payments. Friday's report from the Treasury Department suggests the $75 billion government effort is failing to slow the tide of foreclosures in the United States, economists say.”

 “Approximately 630,000 people who had tried to get their monthly mortgage payments lowered through the government program have been cut loose through July, according to the Treasury report. That's about 48 percent of  those who had enrolled since March 2009. And it is up from more than 40 percent through June.”

 Who is to blame?
“Many borrowers have complained that the government program is a bureaucratic nightmare. They say banks often lose their documents and then claim borrowers did not send back the necessary paperwork.

“The banking industry said borrowers weren't sending back their paperwork. They also have accused the Obama administration of initially pressuring them to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.”

 One thing is clear—we are facing more foreclosures.

Read the full report.


If you have questions about what you see here, contact
Stephen M. Flatow
Stephen's Title Agency, LLC
www.stephenstitle.com
StephensTitle@comcast.net

1 comment:

  1. I'm a real estate investor and find this report very discouraging. The bureaucracy is obviously harming the program.

    ReplyDelete