White House Now Jumps In The Deep End (Or Perhaps Sticks In More Than One Toe?)
By Karen Oakes, Southern Oregon Mortgage Law Attorney on Nov 30, 2009 in Foreclosure News, Mortgage Modification, Mortgage Servicer Abuses
CNBC reported today that the Obama Administration will be spending the next couple weeks cracking down on mortgage companies who aren’t doing “enough” to help borrowers. Treasury Department officials announced November 30, 2009, that they will increase pressure on the 71 companies which are participating in the H.A.M.P. program by sending in three-person “SWAT” teams to monitor the eight largest companies’ work (which answers the question in my earlier blog, who is monitoring the progress?”).
The CNBC report revealed that only about 1700 homeowners, as of September 1, 2009, had finished their paperwork and received a mortgage modification which was permanent. The Treasury Department will begin publishing a list of the mortgage companies which are lagging behind the others. Comments from the mortgage companies are similar to what was earlier reported as lies by Carmen Dellutri,a Florida consumer attorney at MortgageLawNetwork, or in my earlier post — that the mortgage servicing companies were busy blaming the the borrowers for failing to return paperwork.
The CNBC report also announced that Freddie Mac had hired an outside company to go to homeowner’s doors and help the homeowner complete the paperwork, Titanium Solutions. Apparently that company acts as a intermediary between the consumer and the mortgage company — all in an effort to facilitate communication. The report ends with a quote from the Mortgage Banker’s Association: “About 14 percent of homeowners with mortgages were either behind on payments or in foreclosure at the end of September, a record level for the ninth straight quarter. “ Translation: About 1 in 10 homeowners, not quite 2 in 10, are behind on payments or in foreclosure. No wonder my colleague, Chip Parker, says “Shame on You, President Obama.” My perspective is that perhaps this time, the White House will truly get into the pool.
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