Consumers trying to deal with the debt they cannot repay after losing jobs have been cast as the true victims of the collapse of the derivatives market. Even as the CEO of General Motors is awarded a $1.7 million contract to run a business that is majority owned by the federal government, many middle class consumers are facing the loss of their homes after making mortgage payments for years.
The banks have not been sympathetic to their plight either, and the variety of programs designed to keep consumers in their homes have been developed due to government push-backs for the most part.
Recently, Citigroup announced a new program called “Foreclosure Alternatives”. The program will be rolled out in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, and Ohio. In basic terms, the program allows homeowners who are close to foreclosure remain in their homes. In order to be allowed to do so, the homeowners must turn the property deed over to the bank.
The initial phase of the program is expected to include 1,000 homeowners. Though this barely makes a dent in the foreclosure problem, if the first participants are successful, the “Foreclosure Alternatives” program could be expanded to most other states.
The choice of names for the program is somewhat interesting because the homeowner does lose the house. At the end of the six months, consumers must move out of the houses. But instead of a foreclosure and an eviction, a deed-in-lieu-of foreclosure transaction is completed. So despite losing the house, the homeowner does not have a foreclosure on their credit record which will help the credit score.
One of the driving forces behind this program is the number of people who are purposely choosing to default on their mortgages. This is a problem that was anticipated in light of the number of houses that have a market value less than the mortgage balance. For many consumers, it is easier to walk away from an “underwater” house rather than make payments. Despite the negative credit mark a mortgage default leaves on the credit record, it is currently a better choice financially in the long run when it would clearly be years and perhaps decades before the house value once again equals the mortgage value.
Though Citigroup is offering the program as a benefit to consumers, it is the bank that really comes out ahead. The bank gets the deed to the house and has 6 months to decide what to do about the bank asset. In the meantime the homeowners continue to take care of the house and must pay their own utility bills. There are millions of foreclosed homes sitting empty today making them vulnerable to vandalism and deterioration.
Citigroup program participant will also get $1,000 for relocation expenses.
This program was inspired by the Fannie Mae rental program. Homeowners, in effect, rent their houses for 6 months after turning the deed over to the lender. It is interesting to note that the transfer of underwater home deeds to the lender does not address the looming problem of what to do about the toxic assets on bank balance sheets.
In a resale of these homes, it is quite likely the bank will have to sell the house for less than the current mortgage value. It makes one wonder why they don’t let the current owners get the benefit of the write downs rather than taking the houses back. Many homeowners could afford a lower mortgage payment but do not qualify for the mortgage modification programs.
Tags: foreclosure, Finance, Citigroup, Mortgage, bank balance sheets
Related Articles
- Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives: New Program For Underwater Homeowners A new government program will essentially pay homeowners to sell at a loss. It's called HAFA, or Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives and it goes into effect April 5. The goal
- Nation’s Largest Bank Makes Big Move To Help Homeowners Bank of America is making a big move to help troubled homeowners. And some wonder if other banks will follow the move. Bank of America announced it will forgive up
- Lawmakers Call For Hault Of Mortgage Assistance Program A program aimed at helping hurting homeowners stay in their residences is gathering more criticism. The incoming head of the a House of Representatives panel overseeing the Obama administration is
- Consumers Have Trouble Deciding When Foreclosure Is Best Option There is a lot of information in the news every day about programs like the government’s mortgage modification program. The program is intended to give consumers an opportunity to lower
- Fannie Mae Allows Foreclosed Homeowners To Rent Fannie Mae, the troubled mortgage company, is getting into the rental business in order to help some debt burdened consumers. Fannie Mae is a government controlled mortgage company and many