Let's hope some other big lenders follow suit so our market will stabilize and keep neighbors in their homes!!

I think saving those that deserve to be savd is an admirable position.

Do you think we are to the point where we are seeing more good news than bad news? 

Jonathan,

Countrywide has been conveniently dragging its feet on workouts, as experts claim, and the media has been hammering it recently on its behavior, so now they they come out and announce some new initiatives. Let's see if they are more serious this time.  

I highly doubt it... Bad News Sells Papers lol.   Serisouly though, I am cautiously optimistic that this might be the first step towards brighter outlooks.  We've still got a long road of market correction, I think this initiative us a serious step in trying to avoid a national recession.  Moves like this aren't made out of the goodness of a corporation's heart, It's done to try and save it's skin!  I think people are really realizing how serious this is and they're taking steps to clean up the mess!

It's good to hear this, after-all, they helped people into the loans.  I think it is the responsible thing to do for their customers, although hard on their investor customers.  In the big picture this actually helps everyone except those who are hoping to make a killing on foreclosures.

Not slamming the door on your customers is a good thing! 

I had heard this earlier and was able to tell someone in my local pizza parlor who has their loan with Countrywide about this. They thanked me for the information and since they have my business card...who knows what the future holds.

I just have to wonder about their numbers though! I know of another individual with a loan through them who tried to rework their loan and was made to feel like dirt and told in no uncertain terms, that their loan would not be re-worked. That was just last month, and now, their tune is changing? I wonder if it has something to do with the investigations...Hmmm!

It is still good to hear they are finally stepping up to the plate and doing something. Let's see what the other lenders will do.

Sounds like you are in the tank for Countrywide!! They brought more of these risky products to market than anyone. Lets not forget that.

FRANK:  I'm not here to promote Countrywide, but regardless of how responsible they are for the sub-prime mess (and make no mistake, I think they're the biggest single culprits in the whole thing), The fact is they took some initiative and are trying to fix things.

The HOPE NOW program came out months ago now, and the goal was for lenders to work together with housing authorities to stop foreclosures from happening.  I'd be spitting tacks right now if Countrywide wasn't at the top of the list of people working to change ARM re-sets, but consider this:  Who else has stepped up?  There's over 12 major lenders involved in the program, and none have them have announced a formal plan to stop people from losing their homes.  Countrywide established theirs over a month ago.

If other lenders were merely following their lead into this problem, why won't they follow their lead out? 

Jonathan - After reading your comments, I guess my question is why do you support a company that offered the Option Arm loans to begin with, that weren't looking out for the customer in the first place, and not Lenders that took the high road and didn't offer these types of loans.  I was prequalified with Countrywide and was being pushed by my real estate agent to use countrywide.  I opted not to go with an option arm, went with another local lender that wasn't offering those loans, I did get a subprime loan, but a fixed loan with better "options" (my play on words) with what I felt was a better Lender.  And I must say - I was right, the agent was wrong, and now I'm thinking, what was in it for the agent - because neither were looking out for me, the borrower.

Stacey-  I think you and Frank missed the point of my post.  I did not and do not support Countrywide or even recommend Countrywide to my clients. 

The point of my post was NOT to support Countrywide.  I think that they contributed quite a bit to the current credit problems we are now seeing, and I think that they were pushing rather unsavory products on to consumers.  I do however think that it was positive that until this week, they were the only company that had publicly organized relief for people with unmanageable ARM's.  I was relieved to hear that there was something FINALLY being done to start correcting some seriously gross mistakes.

Good for you for getting a better option that makes more sense.  In regards to what is in it for the agent, let me say this: Hopefully, Nothing.   I have heard stories of kickbacks and so forth provided to agents by lenders in hopes of getting business from them.  I have even had offers from lenders (who shall remain nameless) of a similar nature.  I do not find it to be an acceptable or ethical practice, and if there were undisclosed kickbacks, there is a wealth of legal issues involved in that.  Personally, I don't find the risk of losing my real estate license and/or getting a reputation for shoddy deals worth the couple extra bucks I might make from unscrupulous lender offering kickbacks.

I do have preferred lenders that I like to use, and I have generated that list based off of word of mouth and other agents recommendations.  I have a very simple policy in regards to lenders.  1 strike, you're out.  I will not stand for a poorly done or botched deal where my clients interests were not properly cared for.  On my current list of lenders, not one of them is from Countrywide.  In fact, Countrywide has not been one of our preferred vendors for quite some time  (3+ years, roughly).  We have done 1 deal through countrywide in the last year, and that was only at our clients request, not our preference.

Support them or not they messed up alot of people's life with that crazy, zig-zag loans.  And they were not the only ones, just one of the big ones.