Project Lifeline - how helpful will it be?

larry · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 3328 473.51 Dollars($)

Hi Everyone,

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has announced another plan to help borrower's to avoid foreclosure. It is expected that about 1 million borrower will face foreclosure this year. So will this Project Lifeline be really helpful for the borrowers?

Will this extra 30 days grace period help delinquent borrowers to get up to date? It seems to me just wait and see for another 30 days before the foreclosure actually takes place.

Will like to have comments and views from all the community members in this regard?

Best of luck,
Larry

0.10 Dollars($)

Hello Larry.

For me this is quite a reasonable plan. At least borrowers are getting 30 days extra time to resolve the matter and at the same time government has taken some steps to help the delinquent borrowers.

gmakerley · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:46 am Post subject:

for me, all the 30 day delay means is a 30 day delay. those in deep trouble will remain in trouble and the inevitable will happen no matter what.

the potential upside is that the delay gives the borrower and the lender a little bit additional time to see if there is a solution that can be worked out to avoid a foreclosure.

most, however, have reached the point where all possibilities have been exhausted. this is too little, too late in my estimation.

larry · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 3328 473.51 Dollars($)

Hi George,

Absolutely right! But don't you think that these extended 30 days at least gives borrowers a last chance, you know, to get up to date. And at the same time lender will call the borrowers to see if there is any possibilities to work out the situation.

We know there are thousands of borrowers who do not even bother to call the lender to see if there is solution for him or not. If someone sits back and thinks that it is inevitable it actually becomes inevitable. Isn't it? I know this is too little when I million borrower is going to face foreclosure in this year.

Thanks,
Larry

gmakerley · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:10 am Post subject:

i guess you can make a case for the extra 30 days being another opportunity for a borrower to bring the loan current, but most people are at the end of their rope at that juncture anyway...

charlesarmbruster · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject:

I interpret this move by the government to be a glorified public relations campaign to 'shine a light' on the lenders -- most lienholders do not contact their servicers until problems become insurmountable.

Education is the key -- awareness is all. Unfortunately, homeowners who find themselves in dire straits are not anxious to slip their guts to their mortgage company -- they honestly believe that they should keep trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

Until financiers are regard more like doctors, meaning people will visit their doctor when sick, borrowers will always delay fixing their contracts.

We need to continue telling our databases to wake up and smell the roses!

lisascherzer · Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 755 1.03 Dollars($)

I dont know how much this will help.

evolovik26 · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:54 am Post subject:

This will not help. Most of the borrowers facing foreclosure do not have the money or just plain dont want their house anymore because they are upside down on their loan. Another 30 das wont help themm but will put more strain on economy.

larry · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 3328 473.51 Dollars($)

Hi,

Thank you very much Eugene, Lisa , Charles and George for you input.

I agree with all of you that this Project Lifeline will not help all the borrowers as they are already upside down on their loan. But this project is not all about only another 30 days.

The lenders will call the delinquent borrowers and consult with them to see if they can bring those delinquent borrowers back on track with loan modification and such other means. If that helps any delinquent borrowers, to me it is a valuable project though I truly believe that Government should come up with some more helpful plans that can be a big help for the borrowers.

If someone has any thought regarding this feel free to post here.

Best of luck,
Larry

Jessica

Hi all,

Here's what I know and feel about the Project Lifeline:

The program has been taken up by 6 major banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Countrywide Finance, Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual. There are several lenders and mortgage companies who are left behind. So naturally the program is not accessible to a large section of borrowers whereas those in mortgage trouble are huge in numbers.

Secondly, there are eligibility restrictions; the program is not applicable for:

Those who have filed bankruptcy in recent times.

Borrowers who haven't missed payments for more than 3 months.

Those whose homes are about to foreclose in less than 30 days.

Borrowers having bought a vacant land or an investment property.

Therefore, a lot of people are as it is left out. So, I really don't think the project lifeline will do much and I'm skeptical as to whether it will get good response. This is because if we consider records of the past few months, the Hope Now initiative taken up by the same banks could only help 10,000 people with loan modifications out of millions in mortgage problems.

Moreover, as per the figures given in Wall Street journal, only about 36,000 borrowers in the past 2 months called up at the toll-free hotline set up by the government to help borrowers in working out their loan problems.

However, the only positive that i find is, unlike the Rate Freeze program, the Project Lifeline isn't restricted to ARMs only. But even then let's not forget that the Rate Freeze program has also been of not much use.

Somewhere I feel, these initiatives are illusions creating a feel good atmosphere but the facts are something else. The bottomline is, one needs to have better control of finances and debts and pay off the mortgage in a disciplined way. Also, one needs to act as soon as he gets the warning signs of mortgage trouble.

Regards,

Jessica

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