Obama Administration Increases Heat On Mortgage Servicers
By Jessica Holzer, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Obama administration is stepping up its $75
billion foreclosure-prevention effort, increasing pressure on mortgage servicers
to place more borrowers into permanent loan modifications.
Participating mortgage servicers will be required to submit detailed plans to
the government showing for each loan how they will decide whether the loan will
graduate to a permanent modification, Treasury announced Monday.
U.S. Treasury officials and Fannie Mae (FNM) personnel will be assigned to
monitor servicers' progress on these plans daily.
Servicers that fail to meet the guidelines of their agreement with the
administration under the program could face fines or sanctions, Treasury said.
So far, more than 650,000 borrowers have been given trial modifciations under
the program. But only a small number of borrowers have graduated to a permanent
modification, raising doubts about the success of the program.
-By Jessica Holzer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9228; jessica.holzer@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-30-091118ET
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