toomuchtime_
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- Dec 29, 2008
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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The White House plan announced Wednesday to help as many as 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure was greeted with generally positive reaction by homeowners and mortgage servicers that are responsible for collecting monthly loan payments.
But many private mortgage investors, owners of trillions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities considered to be at the center of the financial crisis, are less impressed. Many are preparing to file lawsuits against the banks and other financial institutions that service mortgages.
At issue is an Obama mortgage program that is designed to help homeowners struggling with loans to refinance or modify their mortgages. However, for many mortgage investors, dozens, hundreds, or thousands of modified mortgages violate existing contracts between them and borrowers.
"If you have servicers voluntarily restructuring mortgages, that's where you could see some litigation because the servicers would be restructuring the mortgages, but the investors would be taking the losses," said Michael Bopp, partner and chair of the Gibson Dunn & Crutcher's financial markets crisis group.
Mortgage investors may sue on modified loans - MarketWatch
However, the House is considering legislation that is supported by Obama that will protect mortgage servicers from lawsuits by investors, but this will probably be opposed by trial lawyers, an important Democrat constituency.