Word: plan
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...sunny day in the White House Rose Garden that President George W. Bush announced his plan to enable as many as 700,000 American families to avoid foreclosure amid a growing mortgage crisis. "I've made this a top priority to help our homeowners navigate these financial challenges," he said, "so that as many families as possible can stay in their homes." That was in the summer...
...Even so, the troubled U.S. homeowner is not among the priorities of those in Washington who are dishing out rescue funds. The Treasury Department plans to spend $250 billion of the $700 billion rescue package approved by Congress earlier this month on capitalizing banks. To the back burner went Treasury's original plan to buy up distressed mortgage bonds, and along with it the idea that such purchases could be used to pressure banks into giving better loan deals to homeowners facing foreclosure...
...Saving homeowners is far from easy. The original Bush plan, FHASecure, which involved the government refinancing people into lower-interest loans, has thus far helped only about 387,632 borrowers. A subsequent plan to identify borrowers in trouble and modify their loans has been more successful. As of October, the Hope Now Alliance says it has helped 2.3 million borrowers stay in their homes. But only a third of those homeowners actually got loan modifications. The rest got some kind of short-term fix from their lender, such as forgoing a missed payment or giving a few months' reprieve...
...July, Congress allocated $300 billion for a new plan, Hope for Homeowners, to help borrowers stay in their houses. It went into effect this month, but analysts warn that it won't stop the rise in foreclosures. An April report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that banks would refinance only about 400,000 home loans, possibly fewer. And in recent congressional testimony, officials from JPMorgan Chase said only about $2.5 billion of its home loans (some 14,000 borrowers) of the $845 billion in home loans it services would qualify for the program. Worse, warns the CBO, nearly...
...lost for homeowners, however. A number of economists have recently proposed new plans to stop foreclosures, seeking mechanisms to buy up and refinance individual home loans. Last week, Congress began discussing a new $150 billion stimulus plan focused on helping individual households. "I think the focus is shifting," says Gene Sperling, a former economics advisor to President Clinton who now advises Senator Barack Obama. "Pretty soon, I think we are going to see measures that are more targeted toward homeowners than we have seen...