Hope, Lifeline to avert foreclosure
Project Lifeline was announced as a companion to Hope Now to help those who need help to do something to avert foreclosure. Six mortgage lenders servicing over 50% of all mortgages including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual and Well Fargo will pause foreclosure proceedings for borrowers more than 90 days in arrears while determining whether they could make payments under new terms including debt forgiveness by modifying the existing loan.
According to WSJ, the Hope Now hotline has provided counseling to just 36,000 borrowers in the past two months and suggested loan workouts for fewer than 10,000, a small fraction of borrowers in need. The US Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development hope this plan will get a better response and it does seem to offer more help. Read the press release here.
While the Charleston real estate market has not been affected by foreclosures as badly as other areas of the country (see foreclosure map below), if you or somebody you know needs help, please consider whatever programs might be available rather than just walking away.
But please also understand that the foreclosure rate on a National basis is 10.3 homes per thousand and South Carolina's rate is 2.2 homes per thousand. That translates to 1.3% and 0.02% so keep in mind that while rate resets will drive the numbers higher, most homeowners in the country are not going to lose their homes. This program should help those homeowners who do care about keeping their homes be able to do so. It will not help investors and speculators.
