Your Distressed Property and Short Sale Expert in Maryland
Perhaps they just don't care.
Perhaps they don't want to help people having difficulties with their home mortgages.
Perhaps they just aren't up to the task.
Now, state attorneys general have banded together with a draft proposal to compel banks to negotiate a broad national settlement with the 14 largest banks.
Their propasal calls for billions of dollars in penalties from the banks and billions more in principle reduction for distressed and/or underwater homeowners.
The core of the agreement is to promulgate a mortgage servicing bill of rights for borrowers. It sets out minimum standards and operating procedures that lays our how mortgage borrowers are treated in the future.
Included items:
1) Mortgage servicers would be required to employ enough trained loss-mitigation staff to deal with all borrower requests for loan mitigation.
2) Ability to identify the legal owner of the mortgage - a big issure with MERS holding title to so many bundled and traded mortgages.
3) Servicers will need to provide mortgage customers with a single point of contact, or a designated employee to deal with, with a name and contact information, for loan modification requests.
4) Dual-tracking of modifications and foreclosures(where those working towards loan modification, reinstatement, or short sales) would be completely baned. Lenders have been advising customers to default on their mortgage or not to seek help from non-profit counseling organizations.
5) Force-placed insurance policies would be severly limited. This is when mortgage servicers purchase home owners insurance - often very high priced insurance, and add it onto what is owed on mortgages. Banks would be prohibited from obtaining high premiun policies from subsidiaries or affiliates of the lender or servicer, or accepting kick-backs from insurance companies.
In one case a homeowner who had an in-force, premium policy and was paying $550 per annum, had a $8,500 policy forced on his mortgage because bank records were incomplete.
Banks involved in the negotiations have not had much to say publicly regarding these proposed changes to their often shoddy practice.
Dennis
www.Frederick-MontgomeryCountyHomes.com
www.MarylandDistressedProperties.com
www.FortDetrickHousing.com
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