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Human & Civil Rights Agencies

Loan Modification Program Starts to Get Some Traction

By David Streitfeld

Published: March 12, 2010, New York Times

After a dismal start, the Obama administration’s antiforeclosure efforts are finally gaining some traction. But the results are still paltry when set against the vast sea of homeowners in trouble.

The Treasur...

Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss

By David Streitfeld, New York Times

Published: March 7, 2010

In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.

This latest program, which will allow owne...

William Diaz of the 462nd Transportation Battalion feels like he's fighting a war on two fronts. In April, the 39-year-old U.S. Army Reserve corporal is being deployed to Kuwait for a year-long tour. But for the past few months, Diaz has been fighting another very painful battle in his own backyard: American Servicing Corp., a division of Wells Fargo, is seeking a court order to foreclose on his two-family home in Elizabeth, N.J., a predominately Latino city. "I am being deployed. I can'...

The Obama administration, under intense pressure to help millions of people in danger of losing their homes, is considering a ban on foreclosures unless they have first been examined for potential modification, according to a set of draft proposals. That would raise the stakes from the current practice, which strongly encourages lenders to evaluate defaulting borrowers for a modification but does not make it mandatory.

The New York Times has run a couple of articles in recent weeks about whether it makes sense to walk away from a mortgage that is bigger than the house is now worth. In a recent paper cited in an article on Sunday, “Underwater, but Will They Leave the Pool?” a University of Arizona law professor, Brent White, explained how the vast majority of underwater homeowners continue to make mortgage payments even if it might make more financial sense for them to strategically default and w...

The Obama administration plans next week to revamp its $75 billion program aimed at sparing homeowners from foreclosure, streamlining the documents required of borrowers seeking lowered payments, according to financial industry executives and others who have met in recent days with Treasury officials. The latest effort to accelerate the Making Home Affordable program — now widely viewed as a disappointment — comes as the administration faces growing pressure to do less for banks a...

Responding to the severe housing and credit crisis in the United States, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez recently announced the creation of a fair lending unit within the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Perez, who leads the division, identified "lending discrimination" as particularly destructive, stating that "it's discrimination with a smile, and it tears communities apart."  Perez cited 38 pending investigations concerning fair lending practices, and said the ...

WASHINGTON - In an effort to stabilize home values and improve conditions in communities where foreclosure activity is high, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced a temporary policy that will expand access to FHA mortgage insurance and allow for the quick resale of foreclosed properties. The announcement is part of the Obama administration commitment to addressing foreclosure. Just yesterday, Secretary Donovan announced $2 billion in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants to local co...

If you, your relatives or your friends are contemplating applying for a reverse mortgage in 2010, check out the new guidelines proposed in December by federal regulators. Though aimed at banks and credit unions, the guidelines neatly sum up the potential pitfalls for consumers in the fast-growing reverse-mortgage field. Reverse mortgages typically are restricted to homeowners 62 and older who have untapped equity in their real estate and want to turn it into cash.

WASHINGTON - The number of homeowners on the brink of foreclosure fell in November, the fourth straight monthly decline, as mortgage companies evaluated whether borrowers were eligible for help. Nearly 307,000 households, or one in every 417 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice in November, down 8 percent from a month earlier, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. Banks repossessed about 77,000 homes last month, down slightly from October. Millions of borrowers are still being evaluated for ...