FHA Insurance is NOT PMI!!!

June 22, 2009 – 12:43 pm

A brief primer on the difference between FHA Mortgage Insurance and its pale imitator: PMI or Private Mortgage Insurance.


The FHA mortgage insurance program has been around since 1934.  This program was created under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to help turn a nation of renters into a nation of homeowners.  Back then, the rental rate was 70%, and FHA was instrumental in turning that around.

What the FHA or Federal Housing Administration does is it provides insurance for Lenders against foreclosure.   When an FHA loan goes bad, the FHA steps in, reimburses the Lender and takes the house in foreclosure.  Anytime you see “HUD Homes For Sale” those are FHA loans that went bad.

FHA has been absent for most of the “boom” years due to the limitations on loan amounts for any given geographic area.  These loan limitations are set through an act of Congress and are—by law—a percentage of the median price and the FNMA limit in a given area.   FHA was absent for most of the past ten years due to the low limit on lending.  For example, in the NY Metro region, the limit for a single family home was $362,000 (approx.).  The fact is, during those crazy times, you couldn’t find a single family home priced in the New York market unless you went very far afield, indeed, usually to a distant suburb.

As part of the 2008 stimulus package, Congress increased the permanent FHA limit to $625,000 (approx) for a single family home.   As part of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, that limit has been further increased to $729,250 through December 31st, 2009.  These numbers are not only more reasonable for our market place, but open up the FHA mortgage opportunity to so many more homebuyers.

FHA is, in my opinion, the “miracle loan.”  The Underwriting criteria, as set forth by FHA, is much more flexible than Conventional or Fannie Mae guidelines. FHA requires a purchaser or homeowner (in a refinance) to pay mortgage insurance regardless of the size of the downpayment.  In my humble opinion, this is a small price to pay for the excellent flexibility afforded by FHA guidelines, and the opportunity for homeownership opened up to so many more families.

PMI, or Private Mortgage Insurance, is the corporate, non-public version of mortgage insurance.  PMI companies came into existence to fill the gap left by the FHA loan limits.  For Conventional, or Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loans, when a purchaser makes a downpayment of less than 20%, the Lender requires the purchaser to buy Private Mortgage Insurance to protect the Lender’s (riskier) investment.

Often, Realtors and clients will call FHA loans, or the attendant insurance premiums, “PMI.”   “Trevor, what is the monthly PMI on that FHA loan?”  The two programs are different. The FHA insurance is actually called, “MIP” for Mortgage Insurance Premium. There are two MIP’s when obtaining and FHA Insured mortgage loan.

The first is the Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium, or UFMIP. This is typically 1.75% of the loan amount and is most often financed on top of the mortgage loan you need to purchase or refinance your home.


The second premium is the Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premium or MMIP. This premium is included with your monthly mortgage payment to your Lender. The premium is calculated based on a percentage value of the loan amount determined by the amount of your downpayment (and in recent history, your credit score, although that requirement has been cancelled). You will pay this monthly premium until your equity position in the home reaches 78% of the value at time of closing. It may be possible to eliminate FHA MMIP after 5 years of good payment history.

The UFMIP is included in your principal and interest payment for the life of the loan. If you sell the home or refinance into a non-FHA mortgage, you may be entitled to a refund of a portion of the UFMIP.

More information about FHA loans can be found at the FHA website.


Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in | Comments (0)

Boston Triple-Deckers: A Suggestion

June 20, 2009 – 8:11 am

Today’s NYTimes.com features an article about that particularly New England home, the triple-decker. These are lovely homes from the 1890′s built to house the influx of immigrants from Europe. These homes were a wonderful alternative to the tenement housing of the time. In the ensuing years, triple-deckers have come to describe the character of a neighborhood, whether in Boston or New Bedford. Dennis Lehane, author of “Mystic” featured these homes much like characters in his book (and in the subsequent film directed by Clint Eastwood).

My wife lived in one for a time when she lived in the Boston area and has fond memories of her time living in a triple-decker.

Today’s NYTimes reports of the foreclosure blight affecting this beloved New England icon.

I have a suggestion for any of you first time buyer folks living in a town with triple-deckers: go out and buy your first home—a triple-decker—and use the FHA 203k Rehabilitation Loan to do so. NYTimes reports there are many foreclosures selling far below market. This is the ideal opportunity to purchase a first home at a considerable discount and obtain the money necessary to renovate that home to your specifications. As the article points out, triple-deckers have long been the domain of first time buyers looking for an affordable option for homeownership: the rental of the other two apartments helped homeowners offset their monthly mortgage payments.

The FHA 203k Loan is a program wherein the Lender provides you with the money to purchase the home (acquisition) combined with the money to improve the home (construction) in one closing and with a single 30year fixed mortgage payment. I am an expert in this program having originated many such loans in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant in the early-mid 1990′s under President Clinton’s initiative to rehabilitate inner cities using the FHA 203k program. We encountered a similar experience then in those communities that New Englanders now face with these triple-deckers: historic brownstones, multiple families of 3 and 4 family properties, were in need of serious rehabilitation and presented first time buyers with an excellent opportunity.

With this program, you make your 3.5% downpayment off the purchase price of the home. You present to the Lender your plans for renovating the property. These plans are prepared in consultation with your contractor and an independent FHA Certified Consultant. The Lender uses your proposed improvements both to appraise the house at “future value” after improvements and to make the final loan decision. Minimum repairs are $5,000 with most Lenders. A feature of the program allows you to include up to 6 months’ worth of mortgage payments in the loan so you don’t have to worry about paying rent on your current apartment and a mortgage on your new home while your contractor completes the renovations.

The Seller of the home receives her money (your 3.5% downpayment and the Lender’s portion of the acquisition loan) at the closing table and you receive title. Your repair money is placed in an escrow account upon closing of title: your contractor receives the go-ahead to begin work with the renovation money available in up to 5 “draws” or payouts depending on the amount of construction/renovation.

FHA Loans are only available for Owner-Occupants; Investors are not permitted. You don’t have to be a first time buyer to qualify, either.

FHA Loans require you qualify based on your income, assets, and credit, although the criteria are much more flexible with most FHA Lenders than with Conventional loan programs. There are no income limitations; the program is available to all American Citizens, Permanent Resident Aliens, and even Aliens working with Authorization from the U.S. Government. FHA is an insurance program so you’ll be paying two insurance premiums (one Upfront at closing, financed in the loan for thirty years, the other built into your monthly payment), and you must pay those premiums regardless of the size of your downpayment (even if it’s more than 20% down).

You can find an FHA Lender in your area at the FHA Website along with more information on the FHA program. If you live in a New England town or city where there are triple-decker homes in need of your love and attention, and you want to get a great deal on your first home, I strongly recommend you consider this financing option to help you make that dream come true. You’ll be doing something good for you, and for the historic quality of New England, too.

Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in First Time Homebuyers | Comments (1)

I’m Going To Be Sick

June 7, 2009 – 1:37 pm

The truth comes out, and I am so disgusted by it that I literally want to vomit. I knew there were shenanigans going on back in the day—I watched my clients evaporate before my eyes when I told them they could get a 30yr Fixed Rate loan if they only purchased a cheaper home. Those clients went elsewhere for their mortgage financing, preferring to “drink the koolaid” with mortgage “professionals” peddling loans that were affordable for about the first fifteen minutes after closing.

As much as the “boom” was great for lots of people in the mortgage business, I watched my originations decrease. I made less money. I started writing tcurranmortgage.com as a way to maybe, possibly, sorta-kinda, hold on to clients by demonstrating more about who I was as an originator and how I really had their best interests in mind. I guess I had some vague hope that the clients would read my blog, come to realize they were being bamboozled by the “other mortgage person” and stick with me. They didn’t. (It’s okay, I sleep very well at night)

Little did I realize then—I guess I am that naive—the kinds of officially sanctioned shenanigans going on at companies like Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Read more about it in today’s NYTimes.com article linked HERE.

You might want to be sick while you read.

Excuse me…I think I’m going to be ill…

By Trevor | Posted in | Comments (0)

Use a Blanket that’s Big Enough

April 25, 2009 – 8:02 am

Recent conversations with First Time Buyers have revealed a refreshing attitude amongst today’s home buyers: affordability. People don’t want to get in over their heads with a mortgage payment they can’t afford. I really like that. I have advocated exactly that concept with my clients for my entire career: buy a home you can afford.

During The Boom my words of advice in this regard fell on deaf ears. I would do then as I do now: calculate the mortgage payment and ask the client if this number fits the family budget. In other words, “Can you afford this?” Too often the answer would be “Yes” when I truly knew it should be a “No.” I tried to tell these folks to buy a cheaper house, buy a home they could afford so as not to lead to trouble down the line. I walked away from many of those situations because I just couldn’t reconcile the math and I wouldn’t be a party to a future financial disaster. I knew full well, as I left the room, that another mortgage “professional” would sit down with those clients and tell them what they wanted to hear, give them a truly bad mortgage, collect his commission check, and march off into the sunset leaving this family with a ticking time bomb.

I sat last night with a young couple shopping for a 2 family home. They make an excellent income and have excellent credit. They’re working with not a whole lot of cash (for New York) and so we’ve qualified them for an FHA Insured mortgage loan. They had an expression, “Use a blanket that’s big enough.” In other words, buy a home you can afford. It’s truly all about the monthly payment. If you can’t reconcile that number with your family’s budget, you’re either not ready to buy, or you should look for a less expensive home.

Even though this couple could afford a pretty hefty mortgage payment based on their income, they insist on shopping for a house that allows for a mortgage payment that leaves “breathing room” in their budget. This is good, sober thinking.

When you buy a home, you’re reaching for the stars to make the dream of homeownership come true. But reaching for the stars doesn’t mean you have to launch yourself into orbit. You can make that dream come true with an affordable mortgage payment if you are honest with yourself and realize that you really need to a “blanket that’s big enough.”

Makes sense to me, a blanket that’s big enough keeps you warm at night.

I welcome Comments for all my blog entries. I will be happy to review and approve all legitimate comments provided by readers of tcurranmortgage.com. I do not permit unfettered access to comments for obvious reasons: mortgage spammers and their ilk. If you wish to Comment on any entry, please do so and I will quickly review and approve. Thanks for reading tcurranmortgage.com. Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in First Time Homebuyers | Comments (1)

Mortgage Modification Murder: Homeowner Beware!!!

April 23, 2009 – 7:59 am

I received a call yesterday at our office from a homeowner in Virginia. He was looking for some kind of FHA mortgage modification company and found us instead in his Google Search. Our company is not licensed in Virginia; neither do we do mortgage modifications. We just do plain old-fashioned mortgage originations, helping people buy homes and doing some refinance work, too.

I spent a few minutes with this gentleman on the phone cautioning him against mortgage modification fraudsters. I told him about the many scams being perpetrated by modification companies seeking to take money from unwitting homeowners while delivering zero satisfaction or assistance. I pointed him instead to the HUD.gov website to seek out a mortgage counsellor who might better assist him with his dilemma. I told him, too, that an attorney was probably his best option.

One of our Loan Officers told us of a man he met who is losing his home to foreclosure. A little over a year ago this man had a perfect mortgage payment history. For whatever reason, he decided he needed to modify his mortgage. He hired one of these mortgage modification murderers and paid thousands of dollars in fees to the fraudster. The crooked scam-artist told the man to stop paying his mortgage; upon the advice of his paid-professional-mortgage-modification-expert, the man did indeed cease paying his mortgage.

There was no modification; no call was ever made the the Lender to negotiate on the homeowner’s behalf. Money was stolen from this man and his family; now they are losing their home to foreclosure. The lowlife scam artist has committed, IMHO, financial “murder.” The crook has taken not only this man’s hard-earned cash, but caused the loss of a home and a substantial financial asset. Disgusting.

Homeowners beware. Too many of you who I speak to or hear of are doing exactly what too many of you did during the boom years: you’re following a dangerous path, ignoring the advice of seasoned professionals, and you’re allowing yourselves to be duped out of your homes the same way many of you allowed yourselves to be duped into bad mortgage loans.

If you feel you need help modifying your mortgage, contact your Lender directly. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, TRY again. If you don’t have the time for that because you are busy working hard to pay your mortgage and your bills, then hire an attorney. Pay your attorney a retainer fee and let a licensed legal professional work on your behalf. If you don’t have an attorney, get a referral from family or friends, or consult your local bar association. You can find local help here, on the American Bar Association website.

President Obama and Congress have provided Homeowners with an opportunity to refinance or modify as part of the 2009 Stimulus Package. Find United States Government help here: Making Home Affordable.

A list of HUD Approved mortgage counsellors can be found here: Foreclosure Avoidance Counselling

I welcome Comments for all my blog entries. I will be happy to review and approve all legitimate comments provided by readers of tcurranmortgage.com. I do not permit unfettered access to comments for obvious reasons: mortgage spammers and their ilk. If you wish to Comment on any entry, please do so and I will quickly review and approve. Thanks for reading tcurranmortgage.com. Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in | Comments (0)

No Credit Does NOT Mean “Bad” Credit

April 21, 2009 – 11:13 pm

I heard it again tonight from a client who’s looking to buy his first home for his family: he thought because his wife had no credit that meant she had “bad” credit.

This is NOT TRUE. False. Fallacy. Myth. Mis-Information. Incorrect assumption. Bad Medicine (oh, wait, this blog is NOT “Dances With Wolves!” Scratch that last part)

If a person has no credit that just means the person has no credit score and no established credit history that a financial institution can use to determine credit-worthiness for approving a car loan, student loan, personal loan, credit card, line of credit, checking account, car insurance, or a mortgage loan. No credit means just that: here’s a person who has no established credit history.

Bad credit means just that: BAAAAADDDDD CREDIT!!! When a finance professional reviews a credit report with bad credit we encounter such things as charge-offs, collection accounts and judgments. Maybe the person owes money to a former landlord or a utility in the form of a judgment. Maybe the person had a checking overdraft account that went unpaid and ultimately wound up with a collection agency. Maybe the person borrowed a book from the library and never returned it thus racking up late charges eventually resulting in a collection account (yes, I’ve seen it), or, MAYBE the person didn’t show up for jury duty and has a judgment for a fee incurred as a penalty for not reporting to jury duty from the County Clerk’s office (I can’t believe I capitalized that for a person that sues people for not showing up for jury duty).

All of that stuff is what you can easily see is BAD CREDIT. It’s NOT “no credit.” There’s some form of credit in there and it’s bad. And it’s on the person’s credit report.

Those other folks—like my client’s wife—who don’t have any credit appearing (whether Good, Bad, or Ugly), those folks have NO CREDIT.

There’s a difference. And with FHA mortgages, a person with NO CREDIT has a chance of building an alternative credit profile and getting approved for an FHA Insured mortgage loan.

The person with BAD CREDIT (and no other credit) has less of a chance of getting approved for such a mortgage loan. Let’s say “zero” chance, and leave it at that.

But get that idea out of your head right now about No Credit meaning “Bad” credit.

Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in , All You Need To Know About Credit, First Time Homebuyers | Comments (1)

They’re BACK. Mortgage Losers/Thieves/Lowlifes Return To the Industry

April 18, 2009 – 10:01 am

We’re seeing it. All those mortgage losers who put this industry and the economy in the toilet are returning to prey on consumers once again. They’re returning because opportunities abound to separate hard-working homeowners and homebuyers from their money.

We’re hearing of people getting back into the mortgage business after the long cold “winter” of 2007-2009 when business was hard to come by and only the brave and the bold stuck it out to continue hard-earned careers. These mortgage-professional-wannabees are coming back because low interest rates and a newfound sense of optimism are bringing buyers back and opening up homeowners’ minds to the idea of refinancing.

The Associated Press reported of a warning from Senator Charles Schumer about these mortgage losers. The Senator it seems is also aware of the return of these crooks looking to ripoff consumers. Read more HERE

More than ever when shopping for a mortgage the words “Buyer Beware” ring true. Look for those mortgage professionals with substantial experience and preferably those who you find through a referral from a friend or family member, or your tax professional or attorney. Searching the internet for a mortgage professional is, IMHO, a recipe for disaster. You’re likely to come across many alleged experts who only want to tell you what you want to hear just to get your business. Once they get you to the closing table, everything changes and you can watch your money evaporate from your wallet.

I’ve recently cautioned against working with non-FHA approved mortgage people. These are yet another class of mortgage lowlife who pretend they are allowed to originate FHA loans. Worse, they pretend to know “all about” FHA loans. I just spoke on the phone while writing this blog entry with a young man who told me how he encountered many such people who claimed they could approve him for an FHA loan on a Co-Op apartment purchase. He told me they all seemed very happy to want to separate him from his money for application fees and the like. He contacted me to ask about getting an FHA loan for a Co-Op. He seemed to know already that such a loan was not available, but thought it’s because FHA doesn’t insure Co-Op loans. In fact, FHA DOES indeed insure Co-Op loans (FHA is an insurance program; FHA doesn’t make the loan, they insure the Lender’s loan in the event of foreclosure). I explained this fact to him. The problem with FHA and Co-Op loans is there are no Lenders who provide such financing.

No conversation about mortgage lowlifes would be complete without a mention of those poor homeowners trying to do a loan modification. As I mentioned recently, there are many scams out there with alleged “loan modification experts” very willing to take thousands of dollars in fees from distressed homeowners while providing absolutely nothing in return: no modification, no saving of the house, nothing, nada, zilch. Many of these crooks are, in my opinion, former mortgage losers who have changed their crime tactics from putting unsuspecting people into terrible sub-prime loans. Now they seek to steal your money—and your home—by pretending to counsel you on modifying your loan. BUYER BEWARE.

If you truly feel you wish to modify your loan contact an attorney. Or do it yourself.

On a sidenote, I attended a job fair yesterday seeking to recruit salespeople for the company where I work. I met the recruiters from the FBI and asked them to please, “…hire more people today and arrest more mortgage brokers.” They laughed and asked what I do. “I’m a mortgage broker!” I replied. “Please, I’m serious,” I continued, “these people have destroyed my industry, please hire some good people today and go out and arrest more mortgage brokers.”

Postscript: To the young man who called for advice on FHA and the Co-Op loan: Thank you for your kind compliment about tcurranmortgage.com and thank you for stopping by to read my rantings!!!


I welcome Comments for all my blog entries. I will be happy to review and approve all legitimate comments provided by readers of tcurranmortgage.com. I do not permit unfettered access to comments for obvious reasons: mortgage spammers and their ilk. If you wish to Comment on any entry, please do so and I will quickly review and approve. Thanks for reading tcurranmortgage.com. Hope that helps!

By Trevor | Posted in | Comments (0)

Erica’s Mom is Harrassing Her to Buy A House!

April 14, 2009 – 9:56 pm

I met with Erica this evening to prequalify her for a mortgage for a 2 family house she wants to buy in the Bronx. I gave my usual “tcurranmortgage” mini-homebuyer-seminar, not knowing when to shut up and stop talking (that’s why Gary set up this blog when he built my website four years ago; he knows me too well!) as usual.

Near to the end of our visit, I mentioned to Erica that Uncle Sam was going to send her a check for $8,000 for buying her first home this year. Erica responded by telling us, “Yes, I know. My Mom is harrassing me to buy a house. She keeps telling me I have to get this $8,000 and I have to close this year!”

WOW.

YAY to Erica’s Mom! YAY to President Obama and his 2009 Stimulus Package and the $8,000 Refundable Tax Credit!

Just FYI: the tax credit is a truly refundable credit of either $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price of the house (whichever is lower; in NY, that’s going to be the 8k!!!). You don’t have to wait until 2010 to get the cash in your wallet. You can file an amendment to your 2008 tax return and get the money this year. There are restrictions, so be sure to check out the IRS website HERE to verify. You can even download the appropriate filing schedule to bring to your tax professional to file the amendment. Get to it so you can heed Erica’s Mom’s haranguing: GO GET THE MONEY!!!

Thanks Erica for the inspiration for tonight’s blog.

By Trevor | Posted in First Time Homebuyers | Comments (0)

NYS Attorney General Steps Up To Stop “Default Judgments”

April 14, 2009 – 6:50 am

I’ve been reading credit reports for 20 years. Often I’ll ask a client the status of a judgment that appears on the credit report. We’ll need an explanation for the derogatory credit account and the judgment may need to be paid and a Satisfaction of Judgment obtained in order to get the client’s mortgage loan approved.

Too often the reaction has been, “What judgment? I don’t have any judgments.” Upon further investigation we come to discover the judgment is real and truly in place against my client. But the client insists she was never served any court papers informing her of a pending court date. At the court date presumably she would have the opportunity to mount a defense of the judgment.

By the time the client finds out about the judgment—in her meeting with a mortgage professional to buy a house, or in the attempt to purchase a car—it’s too late. The client never showed up at court on the appointed date, never had the opportunity to present a defense and lost the case simply by “default” for not appearing. Thus a creditor—usually a collection agency at this point—obtains final and definitive proof that the debtor owes the money. The creditor then has the most potent weapon available to collect on that debt, either by seizing the debtor’s assets (such as a bank account) or forcing payment once the creditor discovers the notorious judgment sometime in the future.

This seems a particularly nasty collections tactic. At some point the debtor in such a case has to settle the debt, even if they had a valid defense in the first place. The debtor is forced to do so either because she is attempting to apply for some new form of credit, or, worse, a bank account has been seized through the enforcement efforts allowed once a creditor has obtained a judgment.

I think of the many cases I have encountered where clearly the debtor did not owe the money. Two examples come immediately to mind.

1. Health Care: Often my client has had for many years a comprehensive health insurance plan. But there appears on the credit report a judgment for some medical collection account that originated with some visit to an emergency room or for some medical test (X-Ray or blood test) that actually would have been covered by the client’s health insurance. Problem is the doctor/hospital assigned the debt to collection before the health insurance plan got around to paying the bill. I know this is the truth, because too many times my client was able to research the debt and get his health insurance to pay it! But the damage is done: the collection account or judgment is on the client’s credit report thus forcing the client to settle the debt and then do the appropriate followup with his health insurance after the fact.

2. Furniture. How do you force a woman to pay $5,000 for furniture she never received? You obtain a default judgment, that’s how! I’ve seen this happen more than once: the client purchases furniture on credit. At some point the order is cancelled, either through immediate action on the part of the client or through action on the part of the client and the furniture store (the furniture wasn’t available in that color or the cancellation was the result of poor delivery practices i.e., damaged goods). Months and months later, the poor client’s checking account is seized by some lawyer for non-payment of the furniture debt thanks to a default judgment. She never had the chance to show up in court with her documentation to prove the furniture was never delivered and thus she shouldn’t have to pay for something she doesn’t own.

NYTimes.com today reports that New York’s Attorney General is taking to task the firms responsible for serving the papers to debtors in these court cases. Apparently it has come to the attention of the Attorney General that these firms never actually get around to serving the papers; the notice of hearing documents often wind up in “the sewer.” Without notification, the client doesn’t show up. If the client doesn’t show up, “Presto!” default judgment is obtained. Nasty, very nasty.

I’m happy someone is finally taking a good hard look at this particularly nasty practice.

By Trevor | Posted in All You Need To Know About Credit | Comments (0)

U.S. Warns Mortgage Fraudsters Are Eyeing Rescue

April 13, 2009 – 7:05 am

Mon Apr 6, 2009 12:44pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fraudsters are using the publicity around foreclosure-prevention plans to lure desperate homeowners into costly scams, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday.

As the housing crisis has intensified and the government has hatched several plans to aid troubled borrowers, the number of mortgage scams has mushroomed, several government agencies said at a press conference.

“American homeowners desperately need the relief this program offers, but the very last thing they need is to be taken advantage of as they try to hold on to their homes,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters.

Fraudsters typically charge troubled borrowers an up-front fee to help them get relief from burdensome housing payments but fail to deliver any aid.

The Federal Trade Commission, a consumer-protection agency, has targeted several fraudulent companies with names that sound as if they are affiliated with the government. A company called “Federal Loan Modification Law Center,” for instance, has been targeted by the FTC for exploiting troubled borrowers.

According to the FTC, the center charged consumers as much as $3000 in cash but did very little work trying to secure new loan terms from the lender.

The Treasury’s fraud investigation unit said that it found nearly 180,000 suspected cases of mortgage fraud between July 2002 and July 2008.

A senior administration official said policy-makers are not concerned troubled homeowners will exploit existing aid programs because sufficient safeguards are in place.

“The focus of the loan modification efforts is going to be on getting people into affordable mortgages. It will be done in a way that requires full documentation of income and quite-stringent data collection,” the official said.

A bigger concern, the official said, is scam artists who would prey on troubled borrowers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5354LE20090406?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

By Trevor | Posted in | Comments (0)