NYT - Lucrative Fees May Deter Efforts to Alter Loans

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/business/30services.html?em

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
This week, the Obama administration summoned mortgage company executives to Washington to demand they move faster to lower payments for homeowners sliding toward foreclosure. Treasury officials called on the companies to hire and train more people quickly to field applications for relief.

But industry insiders and legal experts say the limited capacity of mortgage companies is not the primary factor impeding the government’s $75 billion program to prevent foreclosures. Instead, it is that many mortgage companies are reluctant to give strapped homeowners a break because the companies collect lucrative fees on delinquent loans.

Our greatest export is debt and our greatest profits are derived from misery.