ABI Reports on "New" Home Modification Rules to Take Effect in mid-August

Under orders from U.S. regulators, 14 financial institutions have until mid-June to lay out plans to clean up their mortgage-servicing operations - and another 60 days to make the changes, the Wall Street Journal reported today. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that it would take a $1.1 billion charge related to the consent order and other servicing-cost increases. Citigroup Inc., which services $602 billion of mortgage loans, predicted the changes will boost expenses by as much as $35 million a year. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration yesterday rolled out new guidelines designed to encourage more successful modifications while preventing foreclosures from dragging on. The rules will require servicers to approach borrowers earlier and more frequently after a first missed payment in order to have a better chance at modifying loans. The mortgage titans also will pay more to servicers that meet certain benchmarks and establish timelines for banks to modify loans or process foreclosures.

ABI Wesbite here.

Wall Street Journal article here.

Mansfield Law Office is located at 701 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 13, Ventura, California and 530 W. Ojai Ave., Suite 107, Ojai, California.

805-765-1529

Home Prices Remain in Crisis: Families in Jeopardy

“There is very little, if any, good news about housing,” David Blitzer, chairman of the Case-Shiller index committee at S&P, said in a statement. “The 20-city composite is within a hair’s breadth of a double-dip.”

The stock market and the reality of real-world Americans do not seem connected. The Case-Shiller Index is one of the most widely respected reports on home prices.  And the news isn't good.  This has a ripple effect through bankruptcies.

More information here.

Mansfield Law Office
701 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 13
Ventura, CA 93001

Changes in the Office

I am happy to report that the move from the Oxnard office to the Ventura office is complete.  I truly enjoyed having the second office in Oxnard.  However, the Ventura location is much more convenient to my main office in Ojai. 

The new location is at 701 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura, CA 93001. 

On the Ojai front, we have doubled our floorspace at 530 W. Ojai Ave.  This will allow for a much greater work production area and a new reception area. 

I'll keep you posted of more changes soon.

Loan servicers lobby for rules that won't help stop foreclosures

New Rules for Mortgage Servicers Face Early Criticism
 
Federal banking regulators have not officially imposed their new rules for the top mortgage servicers, but a wide coalition of consumer and housing groups is denouncing the legal agreements, which are likely to be published within a few days, the New York Times reported today. The new rules require the servicers to:

1. Improve their processing systems;
2. Ttop foreclosing while negotiating to modify the loan; and,
3. Give borrowers a single direct means of contact.

Servicers will be required to bring in a consultant to investigate complaints by homeowners who lost money because of foreclosure processing errors in 2009 and 2010.

The problem, said Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center, is the agreements "do not in any way require the servicers to stop avoidable foreclosures, and that is what we need." At the heart of the complaints by Cohen and others is whether the servicers, which are arms of the biggest banks, may be compelled to give households fighting foreclosure a better shot at renegotiating their loans and staying in their properties.

Full article from New York Times here.

Andrew S. Mansfield
Mansfield Law Office
Ventura Debt Law
http://www.venturadebtlaw.com
701 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 13
Ventura, CA 93001