Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Halting Foreclosures During Holidays

WASHINGTON — Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures for about 16,000 households during the holiday season.

The two companies said Thursday that they will halt foreclosure sales between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9, while they evaluate whether borrowers qualify for a new loan modification program announced last week.

Fannie Mae said about 10,000 households would be affected, while Freddie Mac said the changes would affect about 6,000 borrowers who are facing foreclosure. The change does not apply to vacant homes.

The announcement "provides a new measure of certainty to many of these families during the holidays," Freddie Mac Chief Executive David Moffett said in a release.

Both Fannie and Freddie were seized by the government on Sept. 7. The companies' former CEOs were ousted and the government now has direct control over the pair.

Fannie and Freddie's loan modification plan aims to help abate the foreclosure crisis by aiding homeowners who have fallen at least three months behind on their payments, but only if their loans are held by the two companies.

Under the program, the new primary mortgage payments _ including taxes and insurance _shouldn't total more than 38 percent of homeowners' pretax monthly income.

Fannie and Freddie are the dominant players in the U.S. mortgage market but hold only 20 percent of delinquent loans. Ultimately about 400,000 households are likely to qualify for the loan modification program, according to Priya Misra, a mortgage analyst with Barclays Capital.

By contrast, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates that more than 4.4 million borrowers will become delinquent by the end of next year, not including loans backed by Fannie and Freddie.

Comments

[Stephen]

Anything to avoid the inevitable television footage of people being put out on the street on Christmas eve-that might incite the citizenry to dig out the pitchforks and do the right thing. The money lenders saw this coming a long time ago. They changed th bankruptcy laws for credit card holders so as to make that debt inescapable. Credit Card default is going to be the next big wave and some folks are going to be talking out of the other side of their mouths.

I am not crazy about the "blame the the victim" mentality in some of these posts The financial services companies made loans tantalizingly easy. Most of these borrowing folks had jobs and prospects, appreciating home values and a desire to participate in the "American Dream." If you are able to pay your mortgage and have lived within your means, kept your job, are healthy,good for you, but that does not justify being uncharitable, smug, condescending, and spiteful. You can congratulate yourself without sounding so angry. Schadenfreude is unbecoming.

As recently as two months ago I was getting encouragement from my credit card companies to assume more debt even as they were raising my interest rate. Fortunately, the first rise, even with my stellar payment record, made me madder than hell. I paid the dirty dogs off. Lesson learned.
People who offer to loan you easy money are in it for them, not you.

[CC1]

Yes, they are in it for them. The 19%+ interest rates on those types of loans says a lot.

However, it's ultimately up to the consumer to make the "borrow or not to borrow" decision. Having the American Dream is great, as long as you can afford it.

The time for mainstream America to "dig out the pitchforks" if any should have been 2003.

[glomtt]

I am broke, unemployed since April. I have been looking for employment, but I can"t even get a bite. My extended umemployment benefits ran out the first of October. I am buying my home from a private realty company. My mortgage is not through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. What am I supposed to do? I do not go back to work until December sometime and that is iffy. I don"t get a bailout and I don"t get any more unemployment benefits. I am really annoyed that all this time was spent on GM and financial corps getting bailouts. Who is going to bail me out? I am desperate and at my wits end. I have been in my home, my first since 2004? I have done or tried to do everything right. Why is this happening to me and so many others? I had to apply for food stamps, just so I could have thanksgiving dinner, but I may not have a home to have thanksgiving dinner in. America is disgusting to me.

[Carolab]

Have you tried getting a renter?

[RightWingMarine]

So I should pay my mortgage and yours?

Why does this being your first home or how long you have lived there matter about anything?

It is unfortunate that you are facing difficulties but no one promised you a rose garden.

[wdw102]

your loss it will convert into someone's gain.........just a simple reset of costs in housing

[BigHeadTodd]

Fa la la la, la la la la!

Tis the season to be generous. Don't worry, they'll come kick your a** out in the middle of January when the wind chill is below zero and there's a foot of snow on the porch.

[wdw102]

good, should have paid the mortgage

[BlackDolphin]

The Antidote to the Sub Prime Crisis is Sub Prime Lending

Sub prime lending is not the problem. It was the predatory , unregulated lenders who sold products that reset at unaffordable interest rates. The Treasury should take the remaining 350 billion dollars and sponsor a sub prime mortgage program. A 3%, 5 year adjustable rate mortgage, with no closing costs offered with reasonable underwriting guidlelines would
a. help those most harmed by the foreclosure crisis
b. reward those who stayed current in their mortgages if they so choose to refinance
c. halt the slide in housing values
d. immediately stimulate the economy and allow the free market to work its wonders

Assuming the government would have to buy down 2 points below the current 5 year arm to achieve 3%, and assuming the total program may involve 4 trillion dollars of new and refinanced mortgages, the annual estimated cost would be 70 billion. The five year cost: 350 billion.

This seems a wiser use of the bailout money. Empower the individual and unleash the power of the (government subsidized) free market.

[Carolab]

It's not a good plan without re-regulation. The vultures used these subprimes to create the securities that were leveraged to the hilt.

[BlackDolphin]

agreed, it should be well regulated

[wdw102]

how about read your contract..........and don't sign if it is too high

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

ah, more time to gut it for copper and jet

[GrainOSand]

To the foreclosed upon may it be that your struggle and pain be short, your recovery shorter, your memory long for the lessons, your growth immense from the realizations, and your joy immeasurable from the application of the realized lessons. The lessons learned, from struggle and pain, which causes one to grow if they find strength and courage, to embrace the truth. You cannot appreciate the "good times" without the "bad"; the ecstasy without the agony. Fortune is but the other side of the coin, which can sometimes appear as two side of a mountain, or a single step over a puddle of vacillation based in fear.

To those who foreclose, may you be consistent. You love, you seek to help, you exhaust all methods to strengthen, at all times or you do not do so at anytime. Goodwill towards people should not be a seasonal event. When it is, it enters the realm of gimmicky hypocrisy bearing no real fruit, carrying no real weight, and producing no real and impacting results. The advice is to rob, steal, bludgeon, and assault everyday or not at all. In this way, confusion is avoided.

Happy holidays, Kwanza, Hanukah, and Christmas and mostly -- happy every moment -- even when you are sad, even when the way is not clear, even when night has befallen the sky of your life, and winter has become the season of your existence. Day will come and flowers do bloom in the spring -- Accept and Persevere.

[williamg]

I like Huckabee. He isn't an angry Christionist.

[BreakfastatTiffanys1]

I do too.

[JettaBostonian]

Rumpy--The K family no longer owns the Palm beach House. Personal property of Rose. Sold after her passing.

Give it up.

[RobertaInCT]

i gave him a little more credit, thought he had a little more class.........What in the he-ll was I thinking?

[JettaBostonian]

I think he's pulling a Neo tonight.

*HIC*

[GrkAm]

Being the hard-wired cynic I've gradually become for years I thought, "what a rip! Why not more, or permanently." Forgot that I put someting on lay-away yesterday for 60 days until we paid of some bills.

So, who knows what the motivation is behind suspending ONLY 16,000 homes, and ONLY suspending them for 6 - 7 weeks. They apparently said they were working on a refinance program for these household. It's a new day, and new way starting Jan. 20th. It's accountability time, folks!!

I know these 16,000 families CAN'T be complaining!

[SaviourMachine]

OT

I luv this vid! Always makes me think of our VP if he were made out of legos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

[GypsyRose]

THIS JUST IN: Greta just said that the AP just said that Prez Elect Obama is going to nominate Sen Hillary Clinton SecState right after Thanksgiving. No kidding.

[HappyIdiot51]

So.

[GypsyRose]

Buttons

[Ramirez]

You're watching FOX.

I just heard her too.

[williamg]

You figured that out by yourself, huh?

[Shieldmaiden]

Uh oh. Oh God. The rest of November is going to be h e l l on earth at Huffpo.

[JettaBostonian]

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/62940/

[GypsyRose]

LOL, very funny. I can't help it, I like her, she's sassy! She will be a terrific Secretary of State!

[HappyIdiot51]

Ah, the media looking for drama. Not gonna find it in the Obama camp.

[mdmpo]

New main that lets us know we're still s.uckin'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/20/intelligence-report-say-f_n_145376.html#postComment

[MontanaHome]

It looks grim.

[NextYearLions]

I'm sure people who had their homes foreclosed before November 26th of this year are pleased to hear this amazing news.

[BabsfromKansas]

Geez loueez..looks like a scene out of Fargo!

[mdmpo]

I think Huckabee is wearing too much lipstick and rouge. He could use the turkey k i l l e r's ex-make up artist.

[ThunderclapNewman]

He's such a sanctimonious twit.

[SCG]

A salesman.

[Rumplestiltskin]

And i have to pay for his health care

[BabsfromKansas]

Did you know he used to be super f at?

http://voteforbreakfast.com/images/huckabee_fat.jpg

[myangeldog1]

ROFLMAO!

[Viper]

His health plan is for ever one to diet. I kid you not. Nothing wrong with that... but thats the whole solution! Does dieting keep women from getting pregnant and needing re natal care? Or protect you from injury in a car accident or keep your child from getting Leukemia?

Regards