cramdown

Ever wonder why loan modifications haven’t become the silver bullet that would solve the foreclosure crisis? Via Patrick.net, USA Today explains in simple terms a phenomenon TWI also has noted, when it comes to loan mods: Borrowers who can’t afford their mortgages and go looking for relief wind up with higher — not lower — [...]

This should come as no surprise: Even the mere mention of the possibility of bringing back cramdown legislation prompted the Mortgage Bankers Association to spring into action. Here’s the group’s rapid response to comments this week from several powerful Democrats, who who threatened to renew efforts to allow bankruptcy judges to change, or cramdown, mortgage [...]

Here’s a fascinating exchange between Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Financial Services subpanel on housing, and Mary Coffin, executive vice president of Wells Fargo’s mortgage servicing division, during yesterday’s hearing to examine how effectively the administration’s voluntary mortgage modification program is preventing foreclosures. (Not very, it turns out.) The [...]

As Mike pointed out today, the slow pace of loan modification progress has prompted some lawmakers to once again call for mortgage cramdown legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify loans and keep borrowers in their homes.
But the Obama administration is signaling clearly that while it may be open to some new tactics, cramdown [...]

The White House program designed to prevent foreclosures by paying banks to alter loans voluntarily isn’t doing nearly enough to keep struggling borrowers in their homes, several powerful Democrats charged Wednesday.

Earlier today, the Treasury Department revealed that the administration’s anti-foreclosure program — which encourages banks to alter mortgages voluntarily — has enrolled roughly 360,000 struggling homeowners in trial modifications.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) is hardly impressed.
The upper-chamber’s second-ranking Democrat issued a statement just hours later pointing out that almost precisely the same number of [...]

The percentage of homeowners either in foreclosure or late on a mortgage payment topped 13 percent nationwide in the second quarter of 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today. The figure is the highest since the MBA began keeping records 37 years ago.
And the trouble is expected only to get worse.

Even as the Obama administration is pushing mortgage servicers to modify more loans to keep folks in their homes, RealtyTrac released its monthly report today revealing more than 360,000 foreclosure filings in July — up 7 percent from June and 32 percent from a year ago.
The numbers are sure to capture some attention on Capitol [...]

As Congress jousts over the effectiveness of the stimulus package to stir economic activity, it’s worth noting that homeowners — whose troubles are at the root of the economic crisis — continue to struggle. Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of mortgage-paying homeowners nationwide now owe more on their homes than the property is worth, according to [...]

A top Democrat on Monday warned the nation’s banks that, unless they get more aggressive in modifying mortgages to prevent foreclosure, Congress will renew previous efforts to empower families to keep their homes through bankruptcy.