New Mortgage Payment Reduction Plan
By Kurt O'Keefe, Detroit Consumer Attorney on Oct 12, 2008 in Featured, Uncategorized
Mortgage villain Countrywide, acquired by Bank of America last year, will be offering deals to lower mortgage payments.
Payments, including, taxes and insurance, will be no more than 34% of the homeowner’s gross income.
This program is motivated not by the goodness of its corporate heart, but by the settlement of predatory lending suits by the attorney general of 11 states.
Don’t call them, they will call you. Countrywide will go through all of its accounts to see who qualifies. It is not explained how they will know the gross income of the borrowers.
My favorite quote: “This is the biggest mandatory modification of loans in U.S. history,”said Jerry Brown, attorney general of California, the state with the largest number of borrowers who may benefit from the settlement. “Of course, we never saw such a big rip-off by any other company either.” Estimated cost of the program, $8.4 billion dollars. This is cheaper than the cost of foreclosing, cleaning up, and re-selling the same homes. Indy-Mac announced a similar program last August.
If you have a Countrywide mortgage, taken out between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007, you are eligible. I recommend having the tax returns, pay stubs, or other information to verify your gross income, just in case they call. That assumes you want to keep your house.
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