Christmas Surprise – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Get Bailout
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For those caught in the Home Affordable Modification Program, you have my prayers. For the most part the government has let you down. But that same government sure moves quickly to cover their own behinds.
For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac they got a special Christmas present. The 400 billion dollar loan cap was lifted late on Christmas Eve while everyone was home with their families. Well, many were home with their families. That is, if their home has not been foreclosed upon.
Well, you understand.
But to make it clearer, here it is again.
For those well connected to the government, a fast acting and effective program.
The Obama administration’s decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday.
The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each.
Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was “necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market,” the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since the 1930s.via WSJ
And for the common people, a failed program.
The net results have been paltry: Just 31,382 borrowers nationwide had received permanent loan mods as of Nov. 30 under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Treasury Department reported. Meanwhile, First American CoreLogic says that 1.7 million homes are likely to be lost to foreclosure next year.
“HAMP is turning out to be something of a disaster,” said Lisa Sitkin, an attorney at Housing & Economic Rights Advocates in Oakland, who works with many struggling borrowers. “There are delays and lost steps at every turn. The bureaucratic requirements are endlessly frustrating.” via SFGate
Read it and weep.
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Comment by Bob on 28 December 2009:
I have not met anyone who has successfully navigated the turbulent waters of the Loan Mod process. The only comments I get are: My paperwork was lost 3 times, it has been 9 months, I did what they asked of me and still no mod…..This is quite a dissapointment.
Pingback by The Government Has Unlimited Funds | RealCentralVA.com on 28 December 2009:
[...] And the Real Estate Bloggers: [...]
Comment by Portland Condo Auctions on 28 December 2009:
Why are they getting more money when what they are doing now is not even working? When something does not work, throwing more money at it is sometimes the worst thing that you can do.
-Tyler
Comment by missoula physical therapist on 28 December 2009:
Wow, out of control government spending on itself at the sacrifice of the people it’s supposed to be helping. I hope it starts to work out for the people who really need it, there are a lot of them at the moment. A true free market system would be a step in the right direction, it gets confusing when there is free government money available and the lenders get greedy it becomes a huge mess.