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...officials acknowledge that they don't know what percentage of their at-risk homeowners have gotten loan modifications. (Williams' ordinance would also require the banks to provide that data.) But the spike in foreclosure signs tells them it's too few. And given the city's grinding 15% unemployment rate, many believe they have no choice but to try to leverage banks into taking MHA more seriously...
...city of 110,000 people just north of Miami is staring at another figure today: a 13% home-foreclosure rate. That's the second highest in Florida, a state that now has the nation's highest rate of homes - 23% - either in foreclosure or delinquent on mortgage payments. Many of the mortgages that have collapsed in Miami Gardens were subprime; city leaders like Williams say they were ethically questionable deals pushed by banks that too often knew their clients were in over their heads. (Read "Four Steps to Ending the Foreclosure Crisis...
...with the banks they believe helped lure them into the housing horror. And it echoes the Obama Administration's exasperation. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently chided banks for their poor loan-modification performance: so far only 9% of the 3 million-plus at-risk mortgagees have received relief, like rate or principal reductions to reduce monthly payments, despite the federal Making Home Affordable Program. This year MHA made $75 billion available to the nation's 38 major home lenders for that express purpose. (Read "Is Florida the Sunset State...
...Ruby Milligan, a single, 61-year-old retired middle school teacher who suffered a mild stroke a few years ago. During the housing boom, when her three-bedroom Miami Gardens house was appraised at what she now acknowledges was an unrealistic $294,000, Milligan says she took out adjustable-rate home-equity loans to help with medical bills. They raised her mortgage principal to far more than the house is now worth in the housing bust. Her mortgage interest has since adjusted up sharply, and she's saddled with monthly payments that eat up more than 50% of her income...
...already started foreclosure without offering a loan modification, primarily because it feels Milligan's retiree income is insufficient. Milligan says it would be sufficient if she could get a loan revision, which she believes the bank has an obligation to consider. "I never really understood the kind of adjustable-rate loan I was given, which I feel was a bit predatory, given my economic circumstances," she says. "I'm even willing to buy the house outright from them for what I'm told they'd probably get it for at auction, around $100,000. Anything to keep the house...