Fed moves to help distressed homeowners

[rayboyusmc]

Funny, how they jumped through hoops right away to help the banks, but it took this long to do anything for the individuals.

WASHINGTON – With foreclosures spiking, the Federal Reserve is taking steps to try to keep some distressed borrowers in their homes.

Under the program, the Fed has a number of options to provide relief, including lowering the amount the homeowner owes on the mortgage, reducing the interest rate or lengthening the term of the loan.

It's unclear how many homeowners would benefit. However, the relief plan would apply to the billions of dollars of mortgage assets the Fed is holding on its books because of last year's bailouts of Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group.

In general, a borrower must be at least 60 days delinquent to qualify for help, although the Fed has leeway to make some exceptions. A 2008 law that set up the $700 billion bailout fund instructed the Fed to take such foreclosure relief action.

"The goal of the policy is to avoid preventable foreclosures on residential mortgage assets that are held, owned or controlled by a Federal Reserve Bank," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in a letter Tuesday to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Fed moves to help distressed homeowners - Yahoo! News

 

[Andrew2382]

So should I go 60 days delinquent on my mortgage so the fed can lower my payment?

 

[rayboyusmc]

So should I go 60 days delinquent on my mortgage so the fed can lower my payment?

Have you been laid off?

We will spend less money this way than by letting the mortgages go bad and have the banks sell them. At least these people will continue to pay off their mortgages.

Sounds smart to me.

 

[DavidS]

So should I go 60 days delinquent on my mortgage so the fed can lower my payment?

No, absolutely not. We should sit here and do nothing and let banks, businesses and homes fail. This way, unemployment will be higher than it is in Gaza and we can blame the government for not doing anything to help us! Oh wait...

 

[Red Dawn]

Funny, how they jumped through hoops right away to help the banks, but it took this long to do anything for the individuals.

WASHINGTON – With foreclosures spiking, the Federal Reserve is taking steps to try to keep some distressed borrowers in their homes.

Under the program, the Fed has a number of options to provide relief, including lowering the amount the homeowner owes on the mortgage, reducing the interest rate or lengthening the term of the loan.

It's unclear how many homeowners would benefit. However, the relief plan would apply to the billions of dollars of mortgage assets the Fed is holding on its books because of last year's bailouts of Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group.

In general, a borrower must be at least 60 days delinquent to qualify for help, although the Fed has leeway to make some exceptions. A 2008 law that set up the $700 billion bailout fund instructed the Fed to take such foreclosure relief action.

"The goal of the policy is to avoid preventable foreclosures on residential mortgage assets that are held, owned or controlled by a Federal Reserve Bank," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in a letter Tuesday to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Fed moves to help distressed homeowners - Yahoo! News

Everybody is a New Deal Keynesian now.

 

[rayboyusmc]

Remember what Ronnie said: Government isn't the say it once and it's okay, but say it again and it's a problem, but play it again and it becomes a RNC talking point.

What a disgrace. Help the people find a way that they can continue to pay off their mortgages. This must really piss off the bankers and other people who are now buying up these homes at cut rate costs.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Several thing that are interesting here........

First, when the greed of the upper crust types on Wall St. got the better of them, the economy tanked.

Someone that saw what was going on, figured that the government needed to step in and help out the economy, before we ended up like 1930's again.

Now.....back in the 30's, giving money to those at the top would have worked. They understood (then) how the economy worked......even the Robber Barons, as they knew that if they didn't keep people working, they wouldn't have any more money.

Fast forward to today.

With the wild way the economy grew over the years, people stopped keeping real money in banks, and they started to count it in bits and bytes, as the numbers were getting too big. Unfortunately, that money was only a concept, not real, as there wasn't enough paper (or gold) to cover the numbers.

Someone realized this, and the Ponzi scheme was born.......just show people a bunch of figures that look real on some fancy letterhead, and they give you real cash, while you give them concept numbers.

Well, people kept playing with concept money, and, because it was all just bits and bytes, nobody really had any, but they kept telling people they did. Madoff is a good example of this.

Then, next thing ya know, people find out others have been lying to them and there is no cash. Next thing ya know, those at the top who realize this go into hoarding mode, trying to back up their imaginary numbers. Other find out, and it dominoes down to everyone.

Because those at the top are broke, and they don't want to tell the rest of us (anyone remember the French Revolution?), they just hold onto the incoming cash until they have what they originally said they did.

Trickle down theory NEVER WORKS PEOPLE!!!! Greed is a big factor in that.

So what should we do? Invest the money in those at the bottom, and let them start spending and it will flow up to those at the top again. And......it has been PROVEN to work. Anyone remember the Nobel Peace Prize winner a couple years back? He started investing in the people at the bottom as a way to help the economy of really poor nations, and guess what.......

It works.

Those on Wall St. are going to have to get over their egos and come clean with the rest of us if we're ever gonna get out of this.

 

[WillowTree]

So should I go 60 days delinquent on my mortgage so the fed can lower my payment?

I have heard that some people are doing exactly that gaming the system. So go ahead, long as folks are getting free rides you may as well to. You pay your taxes don't you.

 

[Ravi]

So should I go 60 days delinquent on my mortgage so the fed can lower my payment?

That's a valid question. How about letting everyone refinance at 4%? Or better yet, how about making a law that makes banks take on the risk of their loans...no selling them off to someone else the next morning.

 

[rayboyusmc]

I have heard that some people are doing exactly that gaming the system.

From whom? Got data.

People who have lost their jobs are in this mess because they lost their jobs. Sounds like another RNC talking point.

Please show me the data.