The $26 billion mortgage settlement: who gets help and how

[CSMonitor.org]

The main thrust of the $26 billion mortgage settlement is to help homeowners whose homes are ‘under water.’ Refinancing a reduced loan will lower payments and help people facing foreclosure stay in their homes.

Posted by CWN: February 10, 2012

By Ron Scherer

NEW YORK -The much heralded $26 billion settlement Thursday of a lawsuit brought by states’ attorneys general against major banks for their poor servicing of mortgages will help “a lot of families,” President Obama proclaimed.

So who is being helped?

The main thrust of the settlement is to help homeowners whose mortgages are “under water.” In other words, they owe more than their home is worth.

As part of the settlement, the banks agreed to lower the principal owed on loans by about $20,000 for 2 million people in the process of foreclosure, agreed to commit $3 billion to help homeowners refinance at 5.25 percent, and will send checks of about $1,800 to about 750,000 people who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2011.

(more…)

February 10, 2012 | Categories: 2012 Election, Agency Regulation, America's Freedoms, Congress, Constitutional Responsibilities, Economic Security, Election 2012, Elections Politics, Fiscal Responsibility, Freedom Justice and Liberty, Government, Housing Crisis, Individual Rights and Freedoms, Jobs, Liberals Big Spending and Taxes, Most Americans Reject Socialism, National Debt, National Security, New Media News, Politics, Progressives pushing for Marxism/Socialism, Radical Liberal Progressive Left, Recovery, Tea Party Conservatives, TEA Taxed Enough Already, Unemployment, United States Court System, Wall Street - Main Street | Tags: $26 billion, 30 year mortgage, CredAbility, credit counseling, cwn, help "underwater" homeowners, home prices, John McCosh, mortgage crisis, mortgage settlement, reduced loan, refinancing, ron scherer, swing states, who gets help and how | Leave A Comment »