Lansing State Journal "Government reworking mortgage aid program"
January 27th, 2010
In a recent article, the Lansing State Journal discusses proposed plans by the Obama administration to "rework its struggling mortgage relief program" and "prod lenders to slash the total amount borrowers owe".
Government reworking mortgage aid program
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will soon announce it is reworking its struggling mortgage relief program and prodding lenders to slash the total amount borrowers owe.
Consumer advocates and even some on Wall Street have been calling on the government to help the roughly one in three homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth.
The administration has been studying ways to encourage investors to cut borrowers' mortgage balances, and many want to do so, according to Bill Apgar, a senior adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"We're still a couple of weeks away," from such an announcement, Apgar said Tuesday. "This is not an easy problem to solve."
During the housing boom, lenders readily gave out "piggyback" second loans that allowed consumers to make a small down payment - or none at all. Those loans are now an obstacle to alleviating the housing crisis.
The Obama administration is offering piggyback lenders incentives to lower payments on second mortgages. But no one signed up until Tuesday when Bank of America became the first to do so.
Administration officials appear wary of subsidizing such reductions with taxpayer money.
To view the online article, please click here.
About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with over 700 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.