Obama foreclosure-relief plan fails to show gains

AP/Yahoo ^ | Oct. 25, 2010 | Alan Zibel and Daniel Wagner

[SmartInsight]

The Obama administration's foreclosure-prevention effort has been ineffective in tackling the foreclosure crisis, the watchdog for the federal bank bailouts said Monday.

Neil Barofsky said Treasury officials are falsely claiming that the program has helped more than 1.3 million homeowners, even though fewer than half of them have received permanent changes to their mortgages through the government's plan.

Barofsky, the inspector general for the $700 billion Wall Street rescue, said Treasury claims it has "helped" everyone who entered the program -- even those who later fell out.

The administration "is either hopelessly out of touch, or it's really a cynical attempt to try to define failure as success," he said in an interview.

Barofsky's report also disclosed for the first time that the two other pieces of the housing-assistance plan have fallen flat.

[SmartInsight]

It was all propaganda with no substance.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[earlJam]

Here is more:

“More homeowners have been kicked out of HAMP than have benefited from lower monthly payments. The vast majority of these homeowners now owe more on their home than when they signed up for Obama’s plan, because of the fees and surcharges that have been rolled into the mortgage.

For those who successfully navigated HAMP and ended up with five years of promised lower monthly payments, they, too, now typically owe more on their mortgage than they did before.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/25/fed-obama-hamp-foreclosures_n_773507.html

[hsalaw]

The Obozo is kind of a reverse-Midas. Everything he touches turns to s***. Intentional? Just stupid? You choose.

[Bean Counter]

The boldfaced lies just keep getting bigger and bigger, don’t they? HAMP is probably one of the bigger scams that is still running out there, and I’m waiting for someone to start paying attention to it in the media. I’ve seen a couple of articles around the net, although none I can lay my hands upon that I consider definitive, that alleges Fannie Mae employees were being bonused on the number of 90-Day HAMP modifications they could sign up, regardless if the people qualified or not.

[ntmxx]

“It’s all propaganda with no substance.”

Absolutely, Sneaks, Cheats and Lairs defining/promoting job justification and success!

[crusty old prospector]

HAMP = Obamao’s stash.

[dawn53]

I know a couple people that are worse off for having tried to get loan modifications. They were offered the lower payment trial by the banks before they “officially” qualified, then disqualified from the program and the bank is demanding the money (difference between what they were pay and what they had been paying) in a lump sum, or they will foreclose. These were people that were struggling but current on their mortgages. Now since trying to get in on the gov’t program, they face foreclosure.

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/109577/loan-aid-leaves-some-worse-off?mod=loans-home

[mojitojoe]

I’m shocked, just shocked!/s

[FromLori]

See this...

“Only 342 households to date have benefited from a program that pays banks incentives to complete so-called short sales — when the bank allows the borrower to sell their home for less than they owe on the mortgage. And only 21 homeowners have received help paying down second mortgages.”

Another way we end up picking up the tab for the banks yes only a very small number on this program but add it to the billions lost on AIG, billions lost on CIT and the toxic waste dumped on Fannie/Freddie and pretty soon it add’s up to real money.

The department in that retrospective estimated the $700 billion TARP program would end up costing taxpayers about $50 billion and once the government sold its AIG shares, the cost would drop to about $30 billion.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39836223

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Official-blasts-Treasury-over-apf-2088959211.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

Taxpayers Lose $2.3 Billion with CIT Bankruptcy

http://www.propublica.org/article/taxpayers-lose-2.3-billion-with-cit-bankruptcy

U.S. taxpayers could be on the hook for up to another $215 billion in aid to housing finance giants Fannie Mae (OTC BB:FNMA.OB - News) and Freddie Mac (OTC BB:FMCC.OB - News) through 2013, their regulator said on Thursday.

The companies, which were seized by the federal government in September 2008 to save them from collapse, will likely have total capital needs of between $221 billion and $363 billion through 2013, the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fannie-Freddie-may-need-215-rb-2323937639.html?x=0

[CASchack]

The administration "is either hopelessly out of touch, or and it's really a cynical attempt to try to define failure as success," he said in an interview.

This wasn't an either/or situation.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SmartInsight.

...the watchdog for the federal bank bailouts... Neil Barofsky said Treasury officials are falsely claiming that the program has helped more than 1.3 million homeowners, even though fewer than half of them have received permanent changes to their mortgages... The administration "is either hopelessly out of touch, or it's really a cynical attempt to try to define failure as success," he said in an interview. Barofsky's report also disclosed for the first time that the two other pieces of the housing-assistance plan have fallen flat.