Stop Foreclosures

The federal government has asked 25 of the biggest mortgage finance companies in the country to expand and intensify their home loan modification programs in order to help more distressed homeowners avoid foreclosures.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested that there is a need for [...]

Several proposals have been launched by Business Roundtable, an organization of chief executives, to contain foreclose homes for sale inventories in the country. They have called on Congress to expand provisions of the Making Home Affordable program which have shown effective results.

Finally, the U.S. House has approved the bankruptcy judge empowerment proposal, one of the most significant proposals in President Barack Obama’s program to avert foreclosures. By a vote of 234 to 191, the lawmakers gave bankruptcy judges the power to reduce the mortgage loans of Americans in bankruptcy to save them from foreclosures. But the bill has to be first approved by the Senate and signed by the president before homeowners hoping for the approval of this option can rejoice.

The U.S. Congressional Oversight Panel has praised President Barack Obama’s $275-billion program to stop foreclosures, but also faulted it for not including second mortgages and for not instituting a legal framework that could facilitate loan modification. Specifically, the panel cited the lack of a scheme to help owners of second mortgages and the lack of legislation to empower judges to help bankrupt homeowners avoid foreclosures.