Still waiting for Cleanup in Foreclosure Mess

I came across an article of from Marian Wang at Propublica I would like to share:

If last year [1] was the year in which faulty foreclosures and bank errors became a full-blown scandal, this has been the year of waiting for something to be done about it.
First, there's the still-to-come multi-state settlement over alleged fraud on the part of the country's five largest mortgage servicers. That's the settlement being brokered by a coalition of state attorneys general and once touted [2] as homeowners' best bet for redressing banks' flaws in foreclosure and mortgage documentation. Over the past year, one story after another declared such a deal was imminent, but the details -- the total price tag [3], the deal's framework, and the expected date -- have continually been changing.
Earlier this month, the Des Moines Register reported Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller -- a point man for the attorneys' general probe -- as saying that the final deal should be complete before Christmas [4] and would include a measure to reduce the total debt owed by underwater homeowners. No deal has yet been announced. Miller wouldn't disclose a dollar figure on the size of the settlement -- or whether California, one of the hardest-hit states, would participate.
Over the course of the year, some state attorneys general seemed to lose faith in the coordinated effort, voicing concerns that the eventual settlement would be too easy on the banks.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris signaled her hesitation too [5], as did the attorneys general of New York [6], Delaware, Nevada, Massachusetts [7], Kentucky [8] and Minnesota [9]. These state attorneys general -- many of whom have filed their own suits against major servicers [10], foreclosure processing firms [11], and other players [12] -- questioned whether the settlement would limit their ability to take more aggressive action against foreclosure abuses in their states and either expressed doubts about whether they'd sign on to the final settlement or pulled out of the talks altogether.
Banks, meanwhile, have pushed for the settlement to include broader releases from legal liability over mortgage-related abuses. According to a recent Wall Street Journal piece, they've tried to make their participation in the settlement contingent on being shielded [13] from the possibility of lawsuits brought by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.


Read more see posted at: http://www.propublica.org/article/still-waiting-for-cleanup-in-foreclosure-mess


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FHA Refinance for Borrowers with Negative Equity

FHA Short Refinance.  If you are current on your mortgage, but owe more than your home is worth FHA Short refinance may be an option that your mortgage servicer will consider.  FHA Short Refinancea was designed to help homeowners refinance into more affordable, more stable FHA-insured mortgage. If your current lender agrees to participate in this refinance, they will be required to reduce the amount you owe on your first mortgage to no more than 97.75% of your home's current value.
For Eligibility and Progam Availability see Posted below website.

Posted:  http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/lower-rates/Pages/short-refinance.aspx

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Save Your Home From Foreclosure! There is help out there!

From one homeowner to another who faced foreclosure there is help out there! All I needed was a little assistance and JDS saved me $400 a month on my mortgage payment. I had already been denied once before after I lost my job......Mary C.

Don't lose your home!
Are you Delinquent with your mortgage payments? Two months? Four months? Eight months?
Facing foreclosure?
There are No credit checks or upfront fees!
No need to refinance!
Let JDS assist you in lowering your interest through Obama's Making Home Affordable Program.
Were you denied? Don't give up!
We have a 95% success rate!

Contact us now or come in and meet us.
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Loan Modifications - The Government's Finally Penalizes the Banks

The Obama administration’s mortgage modification program is more than two years old. From the beginning, it’s been apparent that the participating banks and mortgage servicers were breaking the program’s rules [1]. The administration has long argued it has little power to do anything about it. But now, after millions of homeowners have been rejected [2], the government has decided it’s finally time to crack down.
On Thursday, the Treasury Department announced [3] it would be withholding government subsidies to the country’s three largest mortgage servicers, which are also among the U.S.’s largest banks: Bank of America [4], Wells Fargo [5], and JPMorgan Chase [6]. The banks won’t be getting more money until they show “substantial improvement.”
It’s important that the Treasury is acknowledging servicer noncompliance,” said Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center, “but that’s been a problem for two years.” The action, while “better than nothing,” underscored the fact that many homeowners had been hurt during that time, she said.

Read more: http://www.propublica.org/article/govt-finally-penalizes-major-banks-for-mortgage-mod-failures

Making Home Affordable Program Reports:  More than 730,000 Permanent Modifications have been started. The six-month rate of new trial modifications has consistently been about 30,000 per month for nearly a year, even as the overall population for eligible delinquent homeowners continues to decline. Homeowners who enter a trial modification now have a high likelihood of securing a permanent modification and realizing long-term success in the program.  http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability

JDS will help just contact us now!  No upfront fees! 
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Homeowners were forced to waive their rights to avoid foreclosure!

Homeowners beware of your rights and the fine print in your loan modifications! I was reading an article that I would like to share from a website I often visit:
ProPublica recently learned of several cases where mortgage servicers required homeowners to waive their right as part of an agreement to avoid foreclosure.  In these cases, contracts provided by home mortgage servicers included clauses requiring borrowers to waive rights or state they had no defense to foreclosure.  It is hard to tell how widespread this practice is.  In some cases mortgage servicers insert ambiguously-worded clauses that could later limit a homeowner's defense to foreclosure. Here is just one of the many examples of the clauses that were found deep in the fine print:
* Borrower acknowledges that Lender is the holder and the owner of the Note and that as provided in the Note or as amended by this Agreement, the Lender may transfer the Note.  The Lender or anyone who takes the Note by transfer and who is entitled to receive payments under the Note is called the "the Note Holder" in this agreement.  from a Citi Modification  -There are many more examples as Posted in http://www.propublica.org/ion/loan-modifications

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Making Home Affordable's Permanent Modifications Perform Well Over Time

Larger Permanent Reductions Exhibit Stronger Performance
*  Homeowners whose housing payment was cut by more than 50% through a HAMP permanent modification performed significantly better that those with a payment reductions of 20% or less. After one year, fewer that 12% of borrowers with a payment reduction greater that 50% were 60+ days delinquent.
*  At 12 months, more that 84% of homeowners remain in HAMP permanent modifications. The remaining 16% have been disqualified from the program for missing three consecutive payments.
*  HAMP permanent modifications continue to be sustained at better rates than industry modifications. 

More than 1.5 million homeowners have entered trial modifications since program inception. These results are stated in HAMP Program Performance Report Through March 2011.  Posted: www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/news/latest/Pages/Obama-Administration-Releases-April-Housing-Scorecard.aspx
You want to be a part of this program but are not sure if you qualify contact us now!
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Making Home Affordable - January HAMP Servicer Performance Report

Making Home Affordable Program Update


Report Highlights More Than 600,000 Permanent Modifications Started

•Homeowners in permanent modifications realize real savings, with aggregate reductions in monthly mortgage payments estimated to total nearly $5.0 billion, program to date. Homeowners in active permanent modifications realize median monthly savings of more than $527, or 37% of the median before-modification monthly payment.

•New permanent modifications have averaged nearly 29,000 per month for the last six months. New trial modifications have averaged 27,000 per month over the same period.

•Nearly 1.5 million homeowners have entered trial modifications since program inception.

New This Month: Post-6/1 Conversion Rates

•Most servicers significantly improved conversion rates upon accepting verified income documentation from homeowners.

•Servicers average a 61% conversion rate for all eligible trials started with verified documentation on or after June 1, 2010. As servicers continue to convert their eligible trial modifications, the conversion rates will increase. For trial modifications that started in June 2010, 73% of them have converted through January 2011. For trial modifications begun before June 1, 2011 the conversion rate averages 41%.

Posted: http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/results/MHA-Reports

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UPDATE 1-U.S. close to punishing banks over foreclosures

Washington, Feb16, 2011 (Reuters) - US bank regualtors are finalizing punishments against mortgage servicers after a probe found "critical deficiencies" with the industry's foreclosure processes. John Walsh, acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said a national probe of foreclosure paperwork and procedures found that mortgage servicers broke laws, and that a small number of homeowners were wrongly evicted. "These deficiencies have resulted in violations of state and local foreclosure laws, regulations, or rules and have had a adverse affect on the function of the mortgage markets and the US economy as a whole." Walsh did not identify any servicers but his testimony noted that the probe included Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, among others. In a separate testimony David Stevens, the commissioner of the FHA saide the penalties could range from fines paid to the govenment to loan modifications to banks forgiving some of the principal balance on the loan. "There are a variety of discussions.  There are different views," Stevens told lawmakers on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, House and Community Opportunity, noting that no final decisions have been made. Pressed on the timing of any announcement, Stevens replied: "I would say a month time frame is probably in the reasonable range if we are to reach some sort of conclusion."
To read more www.cnbc.com/id/41636144

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Fannie and Freddie’s Regulator Opposes Reducing Mortgages for Struggling Homeowners

I was having a conversation with a colleague of mine asking who is the biggest problem when it comes to solving this mortgage crisis for homeowners.  I was referred to an article found written by Karen Weise at ProPublica.org.  It was an interesting read so I thought I would share some of it with you.  Read on....

The Obama administration has been pushing for banks and investors to cut mortgage balances for homeowners who owe more than their home is worth. But the regulator for the biggest investors of them all -- the government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- won't let the two do it.
The administration and some banks themselves have increasingly seen reducing the size of a borrower's loan -- what's known as principal reduction -- as an important tool for helping the quarter of all homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. The Treasury Department told ProPublica that the imbalance between what borrowers owe and what their homes are worth is one of the "main causes" of homeowners defaulting on their loans.
The administration sees principal reduction as a win-win, keeping families in their homes and allowing owners of the mortgages to recoup more money than they would through foreclosures. The logic is that if homeowners owe closer to what their home is actually worth, it decreases the likelihood they will default on the loan even after its modified.
Fannie and Freddie would seem to be the perfect players to promote principal reduction to prevent foreclosures. They're under government control, and they own or guarantee about half of the country's mortgages, meaning they pay the loss if a homeowner defaults. Because of that dominance, they also set the tone for how companies manage, or "service" in industry parlance, delinquent loans.
Who owns seriously delinquent Mortgages? 
Fred and Fannie                                                     1,390,000
Private Investors                                                    1,320,000
Banks                                                                       880,000
Other                                                                        810,000
Federal Housing Admin & Veterans Admin.                  660,000

John Taylor, the head of the nonprofit National Community Reinvestment Coalition, says Fannie and Freddie could easily and quickly affect the overall housing market. "They have the greatest authority and portfolio to make an impact," said Taylor. There are tens of thousands of loans "they can take care of tomorrow," he said.

But data show that Fannie and Freddie don't reduce principal, even if it might save them money in the long term. The reason: Their regulator won't let them. (The regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, declined to comment.)
As Posted in and to read more go to www.propublica.org/article/Fannie and Freddie's Regulator Opposes Reducing Mortgagees for Struggling Homeowners

So the bottom line is we need the FHFA to allow Fannie and Freddie to reduce the principal and join in some of these programs and to start communicating with our Congressional Republicans who have been particularly vocal in pressuring the FHFA against doing principal reduction! Stop fighting the Adminstration who are trying to help and start working for the struggling homeowners! 

If you are in need for assistance with your loan modification or need some questions answered contact us.
For a free loan modification consultation go to http://www.jdssaysyes.com/