UNEMPLOYMENT DRIVES FORECLOSURES IN WASHINGTON
Has job loss forced you into an unavoidable foreclosure? If so, you are among an exploding number of unemployed Washingtonians now unable to make payments on high-interest-rate loans, many now jumping from adjustable to high-fixed rates. A growing number of Washington homeowners with once solid credit now find themselves falling behind on their mortgages as unemployment fuels Washington foreclosures. Though the number of foreclosures continues to climb, help for unemployed homeowners is still available with Obama's loan modification program.
Previously caused by bad loans and poor payment management, foreclosures are now driven by unemployment or the loss of income. With foreclosures and job losses skyrocketing, there seems to be no recovery in sight for the housing crisis. Even as house prices continue to fall, making homes far more affordable, getting a mortgage is becoming more and more difficult with lenders requiring much larger down payments and higher incomes to qualify.
Once considered reliable borrowers, many homeowners who have recently lost their job are now the driving force behind the escalating foreclosure crisis, likely to extend into next year. Spurred by unemployment and loss of income, a record number of homeowners fell into delinquency or foreclosure during the first quarter of 2009. Now, a wave of loan modification requests is overwhelming lenders and nonprofit organizations trying to handle the growing wave of disheartened borrowers. [WA Post, 5/29/2009]
Thanks to new government regulations, incentives and the Obama administration's anti-foreclosure plan, unemployed borrowers have a number of options in their arsenal. The Obama administration adjusted its housing rescue plan in order to increase incentives for mortgage lenders to cut payments for homeowners in the hardest hit markets. Qualified borrowers can now take advantage of new government assistance, including the $50 billion allocated by the U.S. Treasury Dept. to assist American borrowers in acquiring an affordable loan. The U.S. Treasury will use as much as $10 billion out of the $50 billion pledged to reduce mortgage foreclosures in order to address lender concerns that home prices will continue to fall. [Reuters, 5/14/09]
Under the HAMP program, a homeowner's mortgage payment cannot exceed 31% of their gross income, and since most home loans exceed 31%, the majority of borrowers are eligible for assistance. With the help of these new regulations Washington homeowners have a greater chance to avoid foreclosure than was ever possible before.
Washington homeowners can now qualify for the Obama Plan to immediately discover the savings and payments available under the various programs now helping homeowners save their home. Troubled borrowers now facing foreclosure, or about to be, should immediately begin exploring all the options available to them, including the new government programs designed to help you secure a home loan modification.
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