Obama Administration Asks Banks to Speed Up Loan Aid

• July 29th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

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The Obama administration is looking for some help with its foreclosure prevention efforts. The Washington Post’s Renae Merle is reporting that officials in the administration are pushing some of the country’s largest banks to ramp up help to troubled homeowners.

The new (lofty) goal is to modify 500,000 mortgages by November 1. Over 200,000 modifications are currently under way as part of the Making Home Affordable Loan Modification Program (HAMP), but this number represents just a fraction of the 4 million homeowners that the program aims to help avoid foreclosure.

Here is an excerpt from the Post story regarding possible changes:

Officials from the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development discussed with the banking executives ways to get aid to borrowers more quickly. Lenders asked the government to clarify which borrowers are eligible and to simplify the program, according to industry officials briefed on the meetings. Administration officials again urged lenders to hire more staff to keep up with demand from borrowers seeking loan modifications and reminded the executives that the program is a White House priority, according to participants in the meetings.

The “ramping up” of help comes three weeks after the administration announced that borrowers with mortgages worth up to 125 percent of their home’s value could refinance under the administration’s program to aid foreclosure victims. Hopefully this latest effort will be the last needed to jump start the program.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/obama_administration_asks_banks_to_speed_up_loan_aid/1181.