The Mortgage Crisis Blog

MSNBC reported on August 4, 2009 that home loan modifications were progressing at a snails pace. And as of July only about 9 percent of eligible borrowers have seen their mortgage payments reduced.  Indeed, Bank of America who received far more in taxpayor funded bailout money than other banks is among the slowest to modify a mortgage.

In August 2009 more than 200,000 Americans lost their jobs! What will become of them and the millions more like them? Is it possible for them to lose their homes. We see hints that the economy maybe improving but it doesn’t necessary mean that the jobs will come back immediately. In fact I recently saw a headline that said the job market will not improve until 2014. After all if you don’t have a job you usually cannot pay the mortgage.

So what should you do if you get behind on your mortgage? First, try not to panic. The lender will probably not start foreclosure proceedings until you are at least 3 months in arrears, sometimes even more. You probably should call the lender and see what can be done. Perhaps your lender has a loan modification program already in place. Yes, it is gathering paperwork. Yes, it is talking to individuals over the telephone. But you can do it! But you say you don’t want to. Then I suggest you contact a reputable attorney to help you. Yes, it will probably cost you money. But it may be money well spent. Yes, you will still need to provide paperwork to the attorney who in turn will forward it to the lender. But it will be the attorney and his staff who are dealing with the lender.

Just don’t delay too long! Remember, in these tough times food, clothing and shelter come first. Not credit card payments. Those days should be over for you. The balance on your cards can be modified. Go to consumer credit Counseling Service or to a lawyer who can assist you. I would suggest that you stay away from large corporations when it comes to spending money. Shop local. Try the local green market. Try a Thrift Shop for your clothes. Do you have a skill you can barter? Post adds in the local coffeshop, internet cafe, laundry mat etc.

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Here’s what’s in Obama’s home foreclosure plan for you President Barack Obama unveiled a $75 billion federal plan to ease the epidemic of home foreclosures on Wednesday, casting it as not just a bailout for as many as 9 million homeowners but a means for ending the downward spiral of the economy. Who will benefit from this plan? The plan is designed to help two kinds of homeowners. The first are homeowners who took out prudent mortgages with a substantial downpayment but whose home value has

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First of all, I think it is ironic that the experts and banks who laughed at this idea back 2 years ago are eating crow pie, now taht they have been knocked off their pedestals. Of course, at that time the economy was much better than it is today. Those banks that we have bailed out with taxpayer money are now forced to do the moratorium because they can not keep up with the pace of foreclosures from all those bad loans they approved. Personally, I think they should fail and go bankrupt, and

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The FBI is investigating 38 cases of corporate fraud or financial institution wrongdoing tied to the economic crisis, and the federal bailout watchdog has already opened several criminal probes, officials told Congress Wednesday.

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Executives from banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America (who bought Merrill Lynch) have been called to Capitol Hill to explain what they did with their shares of the $750 billion bailout. (You can watch it live or read transcripts here.) Here’s a good question to put to those executives: how much did you spend on whores? According to a story by 20/20 aired on ABC on February 6, 2009, Wall Street executives and bankers used company credit cards to pay for prostitut

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