Mortgage Insurers Tackle Foreclosures

Mortgage Insurers Tackle Foreclosures
DSnews

As unemployment and home foreclosures continue to rise and threaten the economic recovery, the mortgage insurance industry is stepping up its ongoing efforts to keep families in their homes.

According to a statement from the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) the industry has been at the forefront in developing systems and procedures to support the administration’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). While these programs are in their early stages, MICA says initial results have been encouraging.

U.S. Foreclosure Effort May Be Falling Short
The Washington Post

The Obama administration's foreclosure prevention program may fall short of its goal of helping up to 4 million homeowners stay in their homes, according to report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office.

This "projection may be overstated," the report said, noting that there were gaps in some of the data used to reach that government estimate for the Making Home Affordable program, which was launched in March. Under the program, lenders are eligible for taxpayer subsidies for lowering the payments of distressed borrowers. But "not all homeowners offered a loan modification will remain current on their modified mortgages -- further reducing the number of homeowners that may avoid foreclosure through the" program, the GAO report said.

Fed Unveils Rules to Protect Borrowers
The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed sweeping new consumer protections for mortgages and home-equity loans.

The proposals seek to overhaul the timing and content of disclosures to consumers, and to ban controversial side payments to mortgage brokers for steering customers to higher-cost loans.

Mortgage relief efforts are criticized
The Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Washington -- Federal programs aimed at modifying loans to stem foreclosures aren't working, witnesses told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, and some lawmakers called on Congress again to pass a bill allowing bankruptcy judges to modify home loans -- a procedure known as mortgage cram-downs.

Separately, the Federal Reserve took steps to make lending terms more understandable as part of its efforts to avoid another mortgage meltdown, which triggered the deep recession worldwide.