Final Housing Bill Passes House, Bush to Sign into Law

[Tookachance]

Is it ethical for me to accept the help that is being offered to me in this bill (assuming I qualify) since I admittedly "took a chance" on the once known "fact" that housing will always appreciate (circa 2005)? I was not duped by a lender, I just thought it was a great investment.

I live in the Bay Area of California btw...

I have a friend who sat out of the game and is now upset at the bill about to be passed that could very well help me to have a new affordable mortgage. He is mad that he was more responsible than I (in his opinion) and decided to rent and wait until he and his wife could afford their first home with a conventional mortgage. He warned me when I took out this mortgage that it was not a financially sound decision.

He is not mad at me personally, just the situation. I appreciate his honesty with me, but I am not sure if I can make it if I don't attempt to qualify for this new bills mortgage re-structuring.



Not sure what to think...

I do wish now that I would have seen what was going on and that there was indeed a HUGE bubble about to pop in the housing market (especially here in Cali). If I would have known, of course I would have waited like my friend.

He seems to think that he will be personally paying for my mortgage now since this bill has almost passed. Is this true? Will he be taxed for the chance that I took? That's what he says will happen...

I would love to be able to rework this loan and be able to afford my payments and stay here for another 10+ years, but I can't help but to think that I am somehow taking advantage. I was after all planning on selling the property around 2009 and moving to Colorado with 200K in my pocket to put down on a home there...

Sigh...

Do I deserve what is coming to me if I either don't qualify for this bill or decide to walk away and take the foreclosure / bankruptcy?

[ccsint]

Hi Moe,

This is something I didn't read in it. BUT , will read it again for this clause. This would be HUGE for us all, but we still may have hesitation form servicers based on the simple fact that they make money when someone is in foreclosure and default and it costs money to do a loan modification or big money in principle write downs etc.

Here's a link; still haven't had time to read through the actual bill myself:

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press..._bill_text.pdf

Offer protection from investor lawsuits for mortgage holders that modify loans to borrowers who are in default or about to default.

ccsint

[Moe Bedard]

Is it ethical for me to accept the help that is being offered to me in this bill (assuming I qualify) since I admittedly "took a chance" on the once known "fact" that housing will always appreciate (circa 2005)? I was not duped by a lender, I just thought it was a great investment.

If this will help you, then it is ethical if you are not lying to get help.

I have a friend who sat out of the game and is now upset at the bill about to be passed that could very well help me to have a new affordable mortgage. He is mad that he was more responsible than I (in his opinion) and decided to rent and wait until he and his wife could afford their first home with a conventional mortgage. He warned me when I took out this mortgage that it was not a financially sound decision.

Oh great, an "I told you so friend " love those, not! He is one of the few geniuses that didn't get duped or sold a bad loan. Good for him, but that doesn't mean everyone has to suffer because they were'nt as smart as him.

If I would have known, of course I would have waited like my friend.

Yeah, maybe he'll let us all use his crystal ball

He seems to think that he will be personally paying for my mortgage now since this bill has almost passed. Is this true? Will he be taxed for the chance that I took? That's what he says will happen...

Funny, thats exactly what the government and lenders want him to think. He is paying for reckless lending by banks and Fannie Mae bail outs. He should be pissed at the banks and the government for allowing it to get this far.

Do I deserve what is coming to me if I either don't qualify for this bill or decide to walk away and take the foreclosure / bankruptcy?

The facts are what is, is. If you deserve the best outcome and you work towards it every day and it makes sense, then that is what you deserve.

[Moe Bedard]

Thanks ccsint!

[AZ Meltdown]

Big suprise, the Help or Homeowners Bill mutated into Welfare for Big Contributors.

Fannie and Freddie got a blank check.
Cities got $4 billion to fuel more sweetheart deals and graft.
I see even the automakers got a break.

Taxpayers got put on the $130 Billion hook.

Business as usual.

[angel83]

Originally Posted by Moe

Loanmodwannabe - Thank you and yes, we must stop asking nicely and start fighting against this BS and propaganda. This thread is a start. We just need to figure a way to organize this and I think I have a great idea.

Erika - You're on the right track. We need to figure a way to make this site more of an activist site also. Meaning, more calls to action and to make it easy for the members and people to have their voice heard. Lets keep brain storming nd I need to call you today anyway.

Rudjay - Just like the FHA Secure that has helped maybe 300 people. It was supposed to help hundreds of thousands. Remember this bill was approved just days after it was announced that Freddie and Fannie are in BIG trouble.

PDressage - That is 95% of borrowers right now. So, as always, my advice is fight for a loan modification.

angel83 - Servicers make more money by keeping someone in foreclosure so they can rack up late fees and penalties. It costs them nothing to do that and it makes them money (the longer they can keep you there). When they do a loan modification it costs them hundreds of dollars in man hours etc. to complete one. So, there is little incentive for them to help when there is more incentive not to help.

Ok, so all this time I thought it cost the lenders more to foreclose than to help, I guess I was wrong? Maybe I misunderstood something.

925girl - Now you're talking. That is sort of my idea with the new video I did the other day as you mentioned. I actually registered the domain SavingtheDream.TV and wanted to start a video series on there as a grass roots media channel for all of us to post our video stories (horror stories). The banks cant squash us on the internet our out spend a grass roots consumer advocate machine like Loan Safe.

Imadreamer -Lets start a homeowner strike today! I have been saying that for months and agree with you 100%!

Irish Gal - Great idea on Michael Moore and I agree that he is an awesome story teller and purveyor of the truth. A mortgage strike may be the way to start this. Lets keep brain storming guys and gals. mmmmmmmm.......

see response in red above

[Moe Bedard]

The loans from the investor's standpoint are insured against default...........so when there is a foreclosure they will recoup more of their interests up front then if they were to work out something with a person and have to wait to get back the investment. The investor's attitudes are extremely lax in wanting or needing to help. Giving a modification has to make business sense to the investor or they won't do it. This will continue as long as the bailouts are labeled "voluntary" instead of "mandatory" where the lenders and investors are concerned.
These rescue plans have got to be mandatory participation by the lenders and investors, which isn't going to happen, or they really are not going to help much........IMO.

[AZ Meltdown]

I certainly don't know or understand much of the murky world of wall street finance, but if lenders are really not taking a big hit with foreclosures etc why are they dumping those mortgage assets for pennies on the dollar?

Merrill Lynch today dumping 30.6 billion in face value mortgage assets for 6.7 billion. That is 22 cents on the dollar! Actually less than that since they had to financed 75% of the deal. And these assets were pre 2005 and supposedly better than the later vintage.

And if a loan does not have PMI is it still somehow insured?

Please explain.

[Moe Bedard]

some of the loans such as my loan which was one loan had lender paid mortgage insurance and rather than pay for it monthly I paid for it in a rate................so yes the investor still does insure those securities as well..............

My point was that since the help is voluntary and not mandatory it is not happening in a broad enough scope..............there are still many millions of homeowners still not getting the help they will need............and again it was just an observation and an opinion based on my experience........

[angel83]

I'm somewhat surprised to hear that opinion. I was totally under a different impression of the way it works, even from you and many others on this site. I don't really see any incentive for a workout if it costs them next to nothing to foreclose. That is disappointing.

[tiffany]

Hi Moe and ***,

I have a slightly different question concerning the FHA Modernization. We are now current on our mortgage after completing a repayment plan with our Servicer (Saxon), our payment adjusted in July and is due to adjust every 6 months. We are lucky in the fact that we can currently afford the payments and our house is actually worth more that the balance of the mortgage. I also know that when this mess is over our house will again appreciate.

Our mortgager does not do modifications and our credit is trashed from our history of lates prior to and during the workout agreement, all we want to do is refinance into a good old fashion FHA. I do not want to give any of my profits to the government (I can not blieve that this is a requirement at the rediculous percentages). If I save on my monthly mortgage payment than I have more to spend for other things that goes back in to economy, good thing right?

I have taken responsibility for my mistake in refinancing this way (and I apologize, but I refuse to blame the President for this), we can afford our home (for now) and have paid for our mistakes. Is there any form of the old FHA around? Is the mondernization an addition to the old FHA loans or a complete replacement?

Tiffany

[Moe Bedard]

It is disappointing and unfortunate............that the lenders are not doing enough to help people stay in their homes.

[AmericanNightmare]

I called my lender (Downey Savings) the day Bush signed the Housing Bill into law. They had a no clue. It has not even been discussed among themselves yet (from what the loan representative told me). The loan modification department has yet to return my call.

[Moe Bedard]

AmericanNightmare,

It isn't even going to get started until at least October is what they are saying.............

[Gigi in Florida]

Hey ***, it's been a little bit -- been super busy. Since I work for a an attorney who handles real estate and foreclosures we have been getting a ton of calls about the new Bill and we have been getting updates daily. Unfortunately, the Bill will help only around 400,000 people; just a fraction of those presently in foreclosure. It goes into effect October 1st and will last through approx. Sept., 2011. The borrower's mortgage payment must be 31% or more of their monthly income, i.e. If you make $4,000.00 a month, and your mortgage payment is $1,240.00 or more you qualify. This is for homeowners only and not investors. There are all sort of caveats if you sell the home after a year, two years, etc. a percentage goes to FDIC. It will probably be tweaked between now and October 1st. It is very sad because in my opinion, it is like putting a cotton swab on someone who is hemorrhaging.

[angel83]

Originally Posted by Gigi in Florida

Hey ***, it's been a little bit -- been super busy. Since I work for a an attorney who handles real estate and foreclosures we have been getting a ton of calls about the new Bill and we have been getting updates daily. Unfortunately, the Bill will help only around 400,000 people; just a fraction of those presently in foreclosure. It goes into effect October 1st and will last through approx. Sept., 2011. The borrower's mortgage payment must be 31% or more of their monthly income, i.e. If you make $4,000.00 a month, and your mortgage payment is $1,240.00 or more you qualify. This is for homeowners only and not investors. There are all sort of caveats if you sell the home after a year, two years, etc. a percentage goes to FDIC. It will probably be tweaked between now and October 1st. It is very sad because in my opinion, it is like putting a cotton swab on someone who is hemorrhaging.

I AGREE! WE NEED TO ALL STOP paying our mortgages all at once, someone will listen then.

[Gigi in Florida]

Angel, what we really need is for all these horrendous lenders to just try and modify all loans in foreclosure for those who qualify, so this thing doesn't continue to kill our economy! If you are working and can afford a fixed payment at a lower rate, they should just do it (modification) but they don't and until someone comes up with a real solution this is going to be pretty bad for a while. My office has attempted to get numerous modifications and the lenders don't respond, and when they do you are back to square one because you are talking to Employee #2546 who has no idea what Employee #5389 told you before.....it is very, very frustrating. The one modification our office has been successful we got a fixed rate instead of adjustable; interest reduced from 8.9% to 4.2% and the payment was reduced from $2,500.00 to $1,340.00. This was for an elderly Hispanic couple, who speak very little English and Wells Fargo was the lender. They absolutely hosed these people over, they are on Social Security, make around $2,700.00 a month from that yet WF showed their income as $5,000.00 per month? They inflated the little money they had in the bank (around $7,000.00) to $50,000.00 and gave them a mortgage payment of $2,500.00 per month, when they make only $2,700.00 a month! Our office wanted to go after WF for fraud, predatory lending, etc. but these people are old, they did not want to fight anymore and are just happy to have a payment they can afford.

[angel83]

Originally Posted by Gigi in Florida

Angel, what we really need is for all these horrendous lenders to just try and modify all loans in foreclosure for those who qualify, so this thing doesn't continue to kill our economy! If you are working and can afford a fixed payment at a lower rate, they should just do it (modification) but they don't and until someone comes up with a real solution this is going to be pretty bad for a while. My office has attempted to get numerous modifications and the lenders don't respond, and when they do you are back to square one because you are talking to Employee #2546 who has no idea what Employee #5389 told you before.....it is very, very frustrating. The one modification our office has been successful we got a fixed rate instead of adjustable; interest reduced from 8.9% to 4.2% and the payment was reduced from $2,500.00 to $1,340.00. This was for an elderly Hispanic couple, who speak very little English and Wells Fargo was the lender. They absolutely hosed these people over, they are on Social Security, make around $2,700.00 a month from that yet WF showed their income as $5,000.00 per month? They inflated the little money they had in the bank (around $7,000.00) to $50,000.00 and gave them a mortgage payment of $2,500.00 per month, when they make only $2,700.00 a month! Our office wanted to go after WF for fraud, predatory lending, etc. but these people are old, they did not want to fight anymore and are just happy to have a payment they can afford.

I'm sorry, you are right....if only the lenders could be mandated to do them. I'm just so frustrated and sad by it all.

[OneHungryChicken]

Originally Posted by 925girl

Moe,

What can we do? For the first time in months I felt a glimmer of real hope....That we could get a loan we could afford, never mind the strings attached. Would it benefit these lenders to make .50 cents on the dollars vs. expensive foreclousures or is it in their benefit to lose money so they can write off the losses? If the latter is the way the game is played then we will all lose and still have higher taxes coming out of our stretched paychecks. If I lose my house, I will never strive to be a middle class citizen again. From what I've seen happen to California the disparity between income is truly rich or poor or rich and working poor. At my bank this afternoon a teller and I talked of how we cannot understand why as American's we have not staged massive marches. It's as if we are in a stupor. I know food riots are going on in the poor countries of the world but we just take it and gripe among ourselves. I'm still wondering why the media has not bombarded our senses with the truth about the reptile Mozilla and his cronies. The fact that certain politicians got favorable loans just disapears the next day but we can't sleep at night. I think I'm living in an age where pigs do fly. I have to fight for a fair outcome. Can Loansafe prepare a letter stating our objectives and do a massive email? Can we donate some money into a trust account to be used to further our message of help needed now?! Could you administer such a thing without losing your license? If all of us who faithfully study this web site donated $20 could we take out full page ads in the areas hardest hit to get people to come and get mobilized? I sound like a revolutionary but other groups get their msg. out loud and clear and we sit and worry and wait. It's time to get on the bus people. What do you think???

Cristina

Im in the same position as most on here but im the one who signed the paperwork, im the one who knew nothing in life is a "For Sure" and that property values can go up, down or stay the same. Yes we would like to get out of being in the hole but we also need to acknowledge what we did.

[OneHungryChicken]

Originally Posted by *** Damiano

The loans from the investor's standpoint are insured against default...........so when there is a foreclosure they will recoup more of their interests up front then if they were to work out something with a person and have to wait to get back the investment. The investor's attitudes are extremely lax in wanting or needing to help. Giving a modification has to make business sense to the investor or they won't do it. This will continue as long as the bailouts are labeled "voluntary" instead of "mandatory" where the lenders and investors are concerned.
These rescue plans have got to be mandatory participation by the lenders and investors, which isn't going to happen, or they really are not going to help much........IMO.

In my situation I dont pay mortgage insurance. Will this be a better barganing chip for doing a Mod or the "New Deal II?

[jules]

Okay I read this but I want to know if this applies to VA loans. They keep saying FHA?? I guess the VA veterans get no help and werent considered yet Bush has our guys over there fighting.........if this isnt an option for us. The VA tells us they cant help cause it is in foreclosure (just started process). If we would have called them earlier they may have.....they wouldnt even help us 1/2 way. I dont know.........would be great if it did include them. To me what I keep reading if you have a VA it is a free ride for profit for these mortgage companies and want to take these homes. More profit for them in the end. And our veterans lose again. Not fair if you ask me but that is the way I see it.

[OneHungryChicken]

It applies to all loans (with lender participation) within the specified time frame. It would convert your VA loan into a FHA loan. Its not just for current FHA loans.

[jules]

Thanks hungry chicken, I really appreciate you telling me this. i am basically to the point if that helps us that is great . But from what I hear, October may be too late, just foreclosing started this month. Asking for mediation to stop it temporarly but not sure if it will matter by then plus have an attorney, I want to save our home and will basically do anything and I guess that is how they want us.

[OneHungryChicken]

Call the lender maybe they will freeze things? Its worth as try.

[OneHungryChicken]

Any new info on this?