An update on the mortgage assistance plan passed by congress:

[Political Heretic]

This plan was touted as rescuing some "3 to 4 million homeowners" and helping set right the economy. Many here at DU referenced this act when others felt extremely critical of the pro-corporate bent in the handling of the financial crisis.

But I haven't read any follow up about the program since.

On NPR today they had follow-up. And according to the Treasury Department (as reporteed on NPR), to date only 17,000 - seventeen thousand - homeowners have been approved by banks.

They then gave the story of a lawyer, who lost his job and was paying his mortgage out of savings. He met all the qualifications for the program. His mortgage had become over 31% of his household income, for example, among other things. When attempting to apply for the program, he was given the endless run around by Wells Fargo bank. He spent months being kicked around customer service person to customer service person. They wouldn't return his calls. NPR contacted Wells Fargo and their press person took the guys name and info, and then never called NPR back. They also never accepted another call from NPR. When interviewing a consumer advocate for fair lending practices, that lady explained that this is what is commonly occurring in every bank. Few are being allowed to access the program, as banks are stalling and being unsupportive - whether they don't know how to administer the changes or for more insidious reasons.

The law that authorized the program to aid homeowners contained nothing in it that would govern or provide any sort of oversight to ensure that banks did what they were supposed to do. And after it was passed, it completely fell off the radar of national attention. Almost makes one wonder if it was just a "fluff" bill passed to look good and do nothing. Even if that wasn't the intent -that's what its done: next to nothing.

17,000 approvals so far can't be called a "success" that "just needs time" - at this rate to reach the 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 homeowners it was supposed to help, it would take a decade or something.

:(

[Bluebear]

1. Everything seems to "just need time" these days except bank bailouts

[babylonsister]

2. More refinancing options coming...

bloody hell, huh.

http://www.freddiemac.com/news/archives/singlefamily/2009/20090605_relief-refi-changes.html

FREDDIE MAC MODIFIES RELIEF REFINANCE MORTGAGES

Changes Provide Broader Availability for Borrowers, More Flexibility for Closing Costs

McLean, VA – In a move aimed at furthering the success of President Obama’s Making Home Affordable Program, Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) today announced several changes to its refinance offering under the program. Freddie Mac’s Relief Refinance Mortgage is designed to assist borrowers who are current on their mortgage payments but who would benefit from refinancing into mortgages with terms that better position them for long-term homeownership.

Once these changes are available, borrowers will be able to refinance a Freddie Mac-owned or guaranteed mortgage with any lender affiliated with Freddie Mac. Previously, borrowers had to work with the lender who currently services their mortgage. In addition, to help reach more borrowers, Freddie Mac is increasing the amount of closing costs that can be rolled into the new refinance mortgage.

“We are responding to consumers’ desires to have more refinancing options,” said Freddie Mac Executive Vice President Don Bisenius. “As an added benefit, we are expanding the program and providing greater flexibility in financing closing costs. Freddie Mac is committed to doing everything we can to bring the benefits of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable program to as many borrowers as possible.”

Borrowers can continue to work with their existing servicer to refinance their mortgage. In the vast majority of these cases, the current servicer will not have to re-underwrite the borrower. If the borrower chooses to work with another Freddie Mac-affiliated lender, the mortgage will need to be re-underwritten.

Freddie Mac will allow the lesser of 4 percent of the new refinance mortgage amount or $5,000 of closing costs, financing costs and prepaids/escrows to be rolled into the new refinance mortgage.

Freddie Mac’s standard postsettlement delivery fees, up to a maximum of 2 percent, will apply to the Relief Refinance Program.

Borrowers should visit https://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/ and complete the online form to determine if Freddie Mac owns their mortgage.

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.

[Bluebear]

3. THANK you for that link!

Seeing if my house is a freddie ...

They're not :(

[babylonsister]

4. Keep looking, Bluebear. I found that with one google. nt

[Bluebear]

5. We just need help getting out from these odious ARM's ...

and if your credit has taken a hit, the bank does not want to negotiate with you, even though (or because) a fixed product would give the homeowner so much more stability!

[notadmblnd]

7. let me bore you with my personal story

I told my mtg holder back in Feb/Mar that I was losing half my income the first of April. They said we can't help you unless you're behind. I missed my first payment in April. Now they're calling me (from India) and telling that they can't help me unless I pay.

The mistake is that the government did not mandate that the banks help people, it was left it as an option.

I'm tired of talking to the bank people in India. When they called me last week looking for money, I told them to get their hardship department on the phone and we could talk, I also wished them luck in this endeavor. The person put me on hold, attempted calling the department that is supposed to be in charge of their hardship program and he came back on the line after about 5 minutes and said that he could not get anyone on the phone. I told him to call me back when he made contact with someone who had some authority to do something other than ask for money. They called again Sunday evening. All their conversations start with "this call may be monitored for quality purposes." So, I told them I was recording their conversation too. The dweeb in India refused to speak to me unless I stopped recording. I told him I couldn't do that. Currently, we are at a stalemate I told the worker in India to tell the bank to do what ever it is they have to do. However, they are still calling every day telling me to pay. One little snot asked me how I'm paying my other bills. He said you obviously have telephone and electric. I said "you don't' know that. "He said well you still have a phone" I said.. for now, maybe next time you call it will be disconnected. Another one told me, where there's a will, there's a way. I told him he should be ashamed of himself and that I hoped that he slept well at night knowing that the reason I'm losing my house is because someone in India is now doing my job.

[Political Heretic]

6. Interestingly, Freddie Mac's track record todate is abysmal - so I hope this changes things

[babylonsister]

8. This is from less than a week ago. Let's see what happens. nt

[Political Heretic]

11. Fingers crossed.

[Missy Vixen]

9. And we're still waiting for our paperwork

I wonder if the millions who applied to the program need to start calling the White House in order to get this done...

President Obama, I'm not seeing much "hope" or "change" here. You need to keep your promises!

[dkf]

10. The Obama team has interesting ideas, but their execution kind of sucks.

Green jobs, shovel ready projects, mortgage relief. I dunno what is going wrong here.

[blindpig]

12. k&r n/t