Bankruptcy

Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Halt Foreclosures For Holidays

By Scott Riddle

From Fannie Mae Press Release and  USA Today:

Mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will suspend foreclosures and evictions for owners of occupied homes through the holidays — the latest effort to keep people in their houses.

Freddie and Fannie, which were seized by the government in September, announced Thursday that they will contact an estimated 16,000 borrowers who are facing foreclosure or evictions between Wednesday and Jan. 9. Those proceedings will be delayed and the homeowners will have a chance to work with mortgage servicers to modify their home loans into affordable payments...

Last week Freddie and Fannie — which own or guarantee 31 million mortgages, or 58% of the nation's total — announced a streamlined mortgage-modification program, designed to get borrowers closest to foreclosure into affordable monthly payments. Given that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie and Fannie, announced this loan-modification program starting Dec. 15, the decision to suspend foreclosures isn't surprising, says Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates. "You don't want to start the program and find people who have missed the cutoff by a day or a week." ...

Most loans going into foreclosure are held by other investors. "We hope others will take the cue and offer streamlined modification," Zigas says.

Full post as published by Georgia Bankruptcy Blog on November 21, 2008 (boomark / email).