Word: hampe
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Still, the larger storm cloud on the horizon is the state of the jobs market. While an out-of-work person can, theoretically, get a loan modification under HAMP by proving eligibility for at least nine months of unemployment benefits, the program isn't set up to handle someone without a regular stream of income...
Rising unemployment isn't the only dynamic HAMP fails to thoroughly take into account...
...Experian and the consultancy Oliver Wyman, nearly 600,000 borrowers might have intentionally defaulted on their mortgages in 2008, twice as many as the year before. The social norm that in previous eras would have prevented people from simply walking away from their homes seems to be eroding - but HAMP puts a low priority on reducing the overall amount a person owes. In fact, among permanent modifications, the average loan amount as compared to home price (the so-called loan-to-value ratio) has increased...
...other big gap in HAMP is the way it deals with- or fails to deal with - people who wouldn't be in a position to keep their houses even with a modification. Emily Jones, a manager at Neighborhood Housing Services in Boise, Idaho, says about half of all people who walk into her housing-counseling agency fall into that camp. "The goal isn't to keep the home in every situation," she says. "The goal is to avoid foreclosure, and in a lot of situations, it's not in the client's best interest to try to keep the home...
...part of HAMP that would most work to help these people has been incredibly slow to get off the ground. Back in May, the Treasury Department announced that it would issue guidelines on how lenders might speed up dealing with borrowers who simply want to hand back the deed to their house or sell their home for less than is owed on the mortgage (a so-called short sale). Distressed homeowners and housing counselors have long complained about short sales being scuttled by lenders that take too long to respond to a potential buyer's offer. The plan to beef...