Payout to 4.2 Million Borrowers Beginning April 12th

There was an agreement between the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC),  the Federal Reserve Board, and 13 mortgage servicers that will make payments to 4.2 million borrowers starting April 12th. This agreement will provide $3.6 billion in cash payments to homeowners that have found themselves in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 or 2010. Those defaulted loans must have been serviced by by one of the following companies or their subsidiaries  Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

The checks will be sent in several waves starting with 1.4 million checks being sent out on April 12th, and ending sometime in mid-July 2013.  The payments are expected to range from $300 to $125,000. There will be a bit of a delay for borrowers whose mortgages were serviced by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, but information regarding this is not yet available.

Borrowers who qualify to receive this servicing settlement payout can expect a letter with an enclosed check sent by the paying agent, Rust Consulting, Inc. Rust previously sent postcards to the 4.2 million borrowers to notify them about their eligibility. If you received a postcard but need to update your contact information, call Rust at (888) 952-9105. Any information that you provide to Rust will only be used in regards to the agreement, at the direction of the OCC and the Federal Reserve.  However, you should beware of scams. If anyone asks you to call a different phone number or to pay a fee in order to receive your payment, do not do so. Stop and call the number above. Remember, servicers are not permitted to ask borrowers to sign a waiver of any legal claims they may have against their servicer in connection with accepting a payment.

Read More

California Homeowner Bill of Rights

Homeowners in California have been dancing on the edge of foreclosure, but now help is in sight. Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has recently announced a $1 million California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR) grant to be implemented into The National Housing Law Project. This bill is a set of laws that will extend key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers.

“Californians were hit hard by the mortgage crisis and many people are still struggling to stay in their homes,” Attorney General Harris said. “The California Homeowner Bill of Rights gives borrowers more opportunities to stay in their homes, and this grant will help make sure the law is applied across the state and that everyone gets the protection they are entitled to.”

The laws took effect at the start of 2013 and will restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents, and require loan servicers to document their right to foreclose.

The goal of this grant is to maximize consumer benefits from the HBOR and minimize abuses of the law by training consumer and housing attorneys in both private and non-profit firms.

The grant will be implemented by the National Housing Law Project and its partners, the "Western Center on Law and Poverty", and the "National Consumer Law Center" and "Tenants Together."  They will be using the grant to provide training to more than 800 lawyers on how to maximize the HBOR's protections. They will be reporting the HBOR's statewide impact as time progresses.

Read More

Mortgage Delinquency Rate Declines 14% in 2012

The national mortgage delinquency rate is defined as the rate of borrowers who are 60 or more days past due on their monthly mortgage payments. The amount of people who fall in this category has declined for the fourth consecutive quarter. Q4 of 2012 saw a mortgage delinquency rate of 5.19% which was down from 5.41% in Q3, and 6.01% in Q4 of 2011. Statistics aside, delinquency is decreasing. This means that as the economy continues to recover with time, more and more people are able to continue paying their monthly payments.

This was the largest yearly decline that the delinquency rate has seen since the recession officially ended, but we still have a long way to go to radically improve life for homeowners. In 2007, delinquencies rose 54%. They rose 53% in 2008 and 50% in 2009. Since then, the decline has been much more gradual than the rise was. It dropped 7% in 2010, 6% in 2011 and now 14% in 2012. We are on the right track but the overall levels are still high compared to where they sat before the recession hit.

If more borrowers can qualify for refinancing, they can obtain lower interest rates that will ultimately lead to lower monthly mortgage payments. This lends to fewer foreclosures and fewer delinquencies. If you are having difficulty paying your mortgage, Quest Loans can help you apply for refinancing. Call us at 888-883-5252 for more information, or visit QuestLoans.com!

Read More

New Freddie Mac Loan Forbearance Policy

As of February 1st, 2012, Freddie Mac will begin allowing unemployed borrowers an additional 6 months of forbearance on their mortgages. That's 6 months without prior approval from Freddie Mac, and an additional 6 months on top of that with prior approval.  So unemployed borrowers will now have up to 12 months to find jobs before they need to pay their loans. This direction comes straight from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

"These expanded forbearance periods will provide families facing prolonged periods of unemployment with a greater measure of security by giving them more time to find new employment and resolve their delinquencies," said Tracy Mooney, SVP of single-family servicing and REO for Freddie Mac. "We believe this will put more families back on track to successful long-term homeownership."

  The above quote was taken from this article where you can find additional information about this new policy.

Read More