loan modifications

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 [...]

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 [...]

CNN examines the stalled efforts to rework troubled mortgages, noting that only 6 percent of  4 million eligible homeowners have been helped so far under the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable program. The piece notes that banks say they are trying to do loan modifications, but need more time to get up to speed on [...]

The Treasury Department’s report on the progress — or lack of it — among servicers doing loan modifications makes it seem like the Obama administration is keeping a close eye on its Making Home Affordable Program. But Felix Salmon at Reuters takes a second look at Treasury report, and raises some important questions. Salmon notes [...]

Because servicers in the lending industry can make more money collecting delinquency fees on mortgages than by modifying loans, guess which road they are taking? The New York Times says today that the longer borrowers remain behind on their payments, the more money servicers collect, even after the home goes into foreclosure. That obviously gives [...]

Startling requirements in out-dated, but still used paperwork raises questions about how well Treasury is overseeing the centerpiece of Obama’s foreclosure crisis solution.

As Mike Lillis reported yesterday, a small group of Senate Democrats is pushing to revive the mortgage loan cramdown idea — a sure sign of frustration as foreclosures continue to pile up. The Senate in April defeated a cramdown proposal, which  involves allowing federal judges to modify, or cramdown, the terms of a mortgage for [...]

Nearly three months after the Senate killed a House-passed proposal allowing homeowners to stave off foreclosure through bankruptcy, some upper-chamber Democrats are wondering if it isn’t time to revisit the issue.
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, not satisfied that mortgage lenders and servicers have done enough to prevent foreclosure voluntarily, have scheduled a cramdown hearing [...]

Did you ever wonder where all those subprime lenders who made big profits making predatory loans during the housing boom ended up? Think about it: What kind of resume would you have, given that you worked for a discredited company that went out of business after making high-rate, abusive loans that have led to record [...]