About Me 0110: foreclosure help

By: Trisha Ocona Francis

While tens of thousands of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure every day and the unemployment rate still remains high, many middle-class American homeowners have asked the question, “Where is my bailout?” Well, our voices have not fallen on deaf ears. Thousands of homeowners will finally have access to the miracle aid they have been seeking.

One-billion dollars has been awarded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Protection Act for the Emergency Homeowner’s Loan Program (EHLP). Through this program, eligible homeowners can receive assistance with both their delinquent and future mortgage payments for up to 24 consecutive months or up to $50,000. This should give the granted homeowners enough time and financial assistance to get back on their feet and avoid losing their homes. This homeowners’ loan will be granted at 0% interest and be forgivable, which means the balance will be automatically reduced by 20% every year for five years until the balance is clear.

Some of the requirements include: [consult with an EHLP Counselor for all EHLP eligibility requirements]

Temporarily and involuntarily unemployed or underemployed due to the economy or a medical condition

At least 90 days delinquent on mortgage, with a risk of foreclosure and have received a written notice from lender stating such

Property must be owner’s primary residence

Applicant must be the deed holder

Property must be a single-family, multi-family up to four units, cooperative or condominium

Have a good history or paying the mortgage payments before income reduction.

The enrollment period ends on Friday, July 22, 2011. To be sure that homeowners are eligible, HUD requests that you take the first step by submitting a Pre-Applicant Screening Worksheet to an EHLP counseling agency. This worksheet, along with a listing of counseling agencies in your area, can be found on the EHLP website www.ehlp.org or by calling 1.855.346.3345. HUD may establish a random lottery program to select applicants in the event that submissions are higher than anticipated. If selected, applicants will be required to meet with an EHLP counselor to submit supporting documents. Lottery selection does not guarantee EHLP assistance. Once ultimately approved and selected, a homeowner’s contribution amount is determined by HUD, which is 31% of your currency monthly income or $150 (whichever is more) and the EHLP will pay the remainder of your monthly mortgage payment.

EHLP is available to homeowners in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. It is also offered in Puerto Rico. If EHLP is unavailable in your state or you are not eligible to qualify, visit www.findaforeclosure counselor.org to contact a counselor to discuss your options and determine if your state has received funds through the U.S Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund Program.

I know many of us will think of this as another attempt to help American homeowners who won’t do much at all. However, remember home is the place you and your family rest their heads at night—an investment that has consumed a lot of your time and energy. It can be taken away from you for reasons beyond your control. Think of the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed, and take another shot at saving what we call home.”

*PLEASE NOTE: Both the EHLP application process and the opportunity to receive assistance from an EHLP counseling agency is FREE. Anyone who requests a fee for this kind of assistance is being deceitful.

RELATED:

Obama offers mortgage relief to unemployed homeowners

Two key data points in the ongoing foreclosure crisis were released this week on just one of the looming economic disasters we face: the ongoing mortgage crisis. One is new polling from CBS/NYT showing that most Americans still think home ownership is central to the American dream, but are less than confident about the wisdom of buying a home. Particularly signficant, "most also say the government should help homeowners in trouble with mortgage payments as a means of improving the market."

Overall, 45 percent would like to see government do more, but three in 10 say it's doing enough right now. Another 16 percent said the government should be doing less.
Pluralities of all partisans would prefer the government do more, though Republicans (at 31 percent) are the most likely to say government should do less.

More than half of Americans, 53 percent, say the federal government should provide help to people who are having trouble paying their mortgages, but 40 percent of Americans disagree. Most Democrats agree, while Republicans and independents are mixed.

The other data point on housing this week is a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks.

The report said that some 19.7% of mortgages held in banks’ portfolios were delinquent at the end of March. By contrast, nearly 6.8% of mortgages backed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were nonperforming, and 11.4% of all mortgages that are serviced by banks.
Nevertheless, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are more crippled than the biggest banks because their holdings of mortgages are so large, they held little capital, and they don’t have other business lines to offset mortgage losses. Fannie and Freddie guarantee more than $5 trillion in mortgages, double the amount held by all of the nation’s banks and thrifts.

While many subprime and other risky mortgages were packaged into securities and sold off to investors, banks chose to keep certain loans or were stuck with them after securitization markets froze in 2007. Loans held on bank balance sheets “in and of themselves are reflective of lesser quality loans” than those backed by Fannie, Freddie, or federal agencies, said Bruce Krueger, a senior OCC mortgage examiner....

Overall, mortgage delinquencies have declined for five straight quarters, but the share of loans in the foreclosure process remained at its highest level since the foreclosure crisis began and was unchanged in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, according to the OCC report. Banks have been forced to revamp their foreclosure processes after improper legal filings and other document-handling issues surfaced last fall.

Here's where the stories converge. One thing that could be done pretty easily for Fannie and Freddie, that wouldn't take congressional action? Institute a right to rent, something Dean Baker has been talking about for a while. The basics: "As part of the foreclosure process, homeowners would be offered the opportunity to stay in their home, paying the market rent, as determined by an independent appraiser."

It's as good a solution as any and allows families to stay in their homes. The GSEs could get at least some income from the property without having to carry it for months and months trying to get it sold, paying for the maintenance (if they bother with it) and creating neighborhood blight with another vacant home. The good part? "President Obama could unilaterally act to require Fannie and Freddie to go this route."

About Me 0110

Monday, August 1, 2011

foreclosure help

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