Below is an update to the Home Affordable Modification Program, better known as HAMP. One of the interesting additions is the eligibility of investor owned homes. Also write downs (reductions in loan amounts) are given a bigger priority.
All of this sounds really good but the problem is this is a volantary program. Lenders don't have to comply. There is a lot of money in servicing loans, processing foreclosures, and related services.
The Obama administration has announced changes to its flagship foreclosure prevention initiative – the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Among the changes, borrowers who are struggling because of debt beyond their mortgage will be eligible for a secondary evaluation with more flexible debt-to-income criteria, and eligibility will be extended to investor-owned homes that are used as rental properties. The administration is also giving principal reductions a bigger role within the program, tripling incentives for investors that agree to write down an underwater borrower’s principal balance and offering these same incentives to the nation’s two biggest mortgage investors – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Stay tuned.........