Making Home Affordable: Obama Administration Launches Sad Anti-Foreclosure PSA (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled a new TV advertisement for its anti-foreclosure programs.

The spot shows stone-faced homeowners immobilized by trouble with their mortgage payments. A woman stands motionless on her lawn, morning newspaper in hand as the sprinklers spray her bathrobe. A man stares blankly while pouring coffee all over his kitchen counter. An assembly-line worker lets a conveyor belt send bottles of cranberry juice shattering on the floor.

"When some people struggle with their mortgage payments, they become frozen, petrified," the announcer says. "But the people who do something -- the people who take action -- are far more likely to get the most positive outcome."

The Treasury Department, which oversees the Making Home Affordable program, said the ad is inspired by feedback from homeowners who said they delayed reaching out for assistance because they were overwhelmed or afraid. The public service announcement, crafted by Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be distributed to 33,000 media outlets across the country to air in donated space, the government said.

The administration has said it wants to reduce barriers to refinancing under its Home Affordable Refinance Program so homeowners could take advantage of current low interest rates. The program, which targets homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth, was supposed to reach 5 million borrowers -- but so far it's only helped 800,000.

President Obama said in 2009 that the centerpiece of his administration's anti-foreclosure efforts, the Home Affordable Modification Program, would help 3 to 4 million homeowners modify the terms of their mortgages. While more than a million homeowners have been offered preliminary modifications under HAMP, fewer homeowners have had their mortgages permanently modified than those who have been kicked out of the initiative. Banks and mortgage servicing companies, which directly administer HAMP, are supposed to reduce eligible homeowners' monthly payments in exchange for incentive payments from the government.

Homeowners have complained that banks repeatedly lose documents and provide conflicting information. The Treasury Department announced in September that it would withhold incentive payments from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase for mistreating homeowners trying to get help under HAMP.

Arthur Delaney is the author of "A People's History of the Great Recession," HuffPost's first e-book.

Comments

[smichaelprem]

07:51 PM on 09/20/2011

If you are tired of the run around from the lending institution and would like to save your home, Call me directly at [phone] Reaching U Network (Non Profit)

[Acharn]

02:13 AM on 09/16/2011

This is horrible. HAMP is known to be a vehicle for the banks to trick people into foreclosure so the servicers can make a profit by adding on phoney fees. The Treasury knows this, Obama knows this, HUD should know this. This is just another awful demonstration of how the administration is aiding and abetting the felonious fraudsters.

[AZreb]

10:06 AM on 09/15/2011

Although there is solid evidence of the banks' and lenders' fraudulent practices in foreclosures, the Department of Justice ("Hold 'em" Holder) is sitting on its hands while several states' attorneys general are leading the fight to make the banks and lenders accountable. Department of Treasury ("Government Sachs" Geithner) is also eerily quiet on this matter.

[truthfinderddw]

06:21 AM on 09/15/2011

President Obama, I have a clear idea on why you have proceeded with your Housing Policy, in respect to Forecloser; (HAMP). You have lost this fight, and will continue to lose support. I just hope you are measuring the risk.

[layman]

11:02 PM on 09/14/2011

Right now is already too late, still selling that hope crap, helping the banksters, Wallstreeters instead of the people.

[sueinmn]

10:18 PM on 09/14/2011

For the average homeowner who has an unemployed worker in the home, this program does not help what so ever. The percentages or requirements are still too steep to qualify. This program was set up to help those who bought the outragious mortgages who should not have qualified based on income requirements. Do the math and see who it helps. It should be helping all of us who have lost an income rather than allow the banks to steal our lifes worth of hard work!

[PennP]

09:40 PM on 09/14/2011

Just when I think the guy can't push the chutzpah envelope any farther, there he goes.

The program doesn't work because it wasn't designed to work--for the homeowner, that is. This has been shown over and over again, and the dismal results bear it out.

Launching this ad now is beyond disingenuous of Obama--it's blatantly fraudulent. I am so tired of his morally revolting circus, I could spit.

[Acharn]

02:16 AM on 09/16/2011

It's astonishing to me how out of touch with reality the whole White House team is. What on earth are they doing there, watching Fox News all day long? It seems like every public appearance Axelrod or Plouffe make they show that they're simply delusional. And now this. I can't think when I've seen a more tone-deaf display.

[lily]

07:49 PM on 09/14/2011

Name me one person who house was saved by Obama's toothless, bank-favoring programs.

[Califishing]

07:22 PM on 09/14/2011

Just require once paperwork in within the system each person has to sign off on it..The bank gets an original and the person gets a copy of the documents with an acknowledgement from the bank of getting the paperwork..

If it gets lost then the last person to sign off on it is the person to go see. Then if documents are lost and not found the bank by law has to Ok the loan per the acknowledged copy from the person seeking the loan..Problem solve on that part..

[Bluebird88]

11:11 PM on 09/14/2011

yeah, the paperwork was never lost. Banks find foreclosure far more lucrative. They lie continuously, stringing people along while the required time passes for them to foreclose. Pointless to even try a loan mod. Just walk away.

[LibertyNews]

07:13 PM on 09/14/2011

Yes, you can call to get answers to our questions and the answer is: There is no solution -Good Luck. As if people haven't look for a solution. The people that have been "helped" are those who are just on the margin of really needing it. The Gov. was hoodwinked and blackmailed by the banks. During the next election they will really see how fed up folks are.

[sueinmn]

10:21 PM on 09/14/2011

Yes were fed up but electing more TP republicans to office does us no good. They are destroying what is left and getting into your daily life such as the policy changes they push, well good luck. I would rather have the Taliban governing than these people! The big business corruption the GOP stands behind is just over the cliff and they could care less about you or I.

[LibertyNews]

07:23 PM on 09/15/2011

You know whats funny? The Term "Tea Party" to describe certain people in today's discourse didn't come about until after the TARP programs when American's of all different strips and parties were fed up with the Banks, The Republican Fat Cats and The Big Government Democrats making a general mess of things. Now suddenly the Tea Party is a euphemism for Right Wing Christian Republicans. We have only had one mid-term election since the term became popular. The fiscally conservative abide in both parties. The Tea Party is a group that wants to get the Robber Baron's and Uncle Sam out of our pockets!

[Carrie Bekker]

06:45 PM on 09/14/2011

Part V-C: BTW, the next financial crises, most likely beginning in 2012, will be student loan defaults, skyrocketing unemployment (because those jobs just aren't coming back), chronic homelessness of entire families, more bank failures (possibly including the Too Big to Fail banks), and who knows what else.

I am not a Pessimist. I am an Optimist with Experience. We have been fighting the bank for the past three years and are currently homeless ourselves. So we oughtta know; we've been in the thick of it ever since my compliance consulting business took a financial nosedive before Obama even took office. After all, financial institutions are not interested in hiring a consulting firm to provide compliance advice unless the regulators force them to do so in the form of a settlement agreement, which still pretty much is a hand slap with a fine; the institutions typically pay the fine, window dress their compliance program, and then it's back to business as usual until the next time it happens ("until" not "if").

BofA is laying off about 30,000 people. Now that should do wonders for the non-existent customer service that the banks have already.

[Carrie Bekker]

06:43 PM on 09/14/2011

PART V-B: It's the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. Crime of the Century. We will not recover from what is now a Global Recession until the government intervenes and forces the Banks to cooperate (which, again, is unlikely). Basel II/III is a long way off; by the time the Banks are forced to comply with the new capital reserve laws, they may not even be around by then. Same for the homeowners, most of whom will be homeless by then (homeless: having no permanent address, including living in a motel).
It will likely take at least 10 years, maybe more, for us to pull out of this Robber Baron era. It will most likely take just as long, if not longer, for the global economy to recover. AND it will most likely take just as long, if not longer, for the US economy to recover.

Mark my words. We have yet to hit bottom, so it'll be a while (who knows how long) before we have no way to go but up.

[Carrie Bekker]

06:42 PM on 09/14/2011

AND PART V-A:

Forget the loan mod -- it's a big sick joke. Retain a lawyer instead and sue the crap out of the bank.

The banks WILL NOT stop denying loan mods, denying temp to permanent loan mods, foreclosing, evicting, and repossessing as many homes as they can get their grubby paws on, unless the government stops them from doing so, which is unlikely.

But the banks WILL continue to take the government's money and parse it out in the form of bonuses to the CEOs and senior executives -- because, after all, they are not legally required to modify a loan -- but they're more than happy to take the money and run. Once the bank has it, the government is SOL; possession is 9/10th of the law -- money, homes, mortgages, et al.

There is this perception that the banks are disorganized and losing paperwork. Au contraire, mon friere! The Banks are dumb like foxes. The people answering the phone either don't have a clue because they are not told or are told to say the papers are lost because they are instructed not to even bother looking for them.

[Carrie Bekker]

06:36 PM on 09/14/2011

Part IV of IV: Furthermore, it is unlikely that those homeowners who do get a temporary loan mod will obtain a permanent one -- for the reasons cited above. If the loan mod is not made permanent, then the monies collected from the homeowner (which are held in a suspense account and are NOT applied towards the past-due mortgage payments) are typically eaten up in all kinds of fees, often leaving the homeowner worse off than before the loan mod. The homeowners certainly do not get the money back. And THEN, the banks continue the foreclosure process without notice to the homeowner because after all, they are not legally required to notify the homeowner about that either.

Kind've reminds me of Mafia loan sharks, but then Banks are organized crime syndicates, as are the federal and state government and of course Wall Street. The Banks won't break your arm, but they WILL ruin you and your family's life financially, personally, and otherwise -- including putting you out on the street. It doesn't matter WHAT you do; this is what will happen if you fall behind on your payments. Why, it even happens to homeowners who are current or who have paid off their mortgages in full. Banks don't discriminate; they'll foreclose on anyone and get away with it unless the homeowners fight back.

[Carrie Bekker]

06:35 PM on 09/14/2011

Part III of IV:

Homeowners have complained that banks repeatedly lose documents and provide conflicting information. The Treasury Department announced in September that it would withhold incentive payments from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase for mistreating homeowners trying to get help under HAMP."

OK, HERE'S THE REALITY, FOLKS: The banks DON'T WANT TO HELP HOMEOWNERS. Never have, never will, unless they're forced to do so, which is highly unlikely. The banks take the government money and keep it, then pass it on the form of bonuses to senior banking executives. It is rare that a homeowner gets a mod because the banks are not legally required to modify loans, regardless of the homeowner's personal or financial circumstances.