The Obama administration has not been happy with the lenders’ effort to help property owners in the housing crisis. For the more than 6.5 million property owners currently late on their mortgage only 170,000 loan modifications have been completed.
Under increasing government pressure, Bank Of America launched a new program to erase as much as 30% off the principal in underwater home loans. The program should be available sometime in May, and before you ask, yes it is only available to homeowners with principal residences.
The enhancements to the National Homeownership Retention Program (as they call it) are coming soon according to their web site.
Bank of America has not been my favorite bank, but I am cheered to see a major bank lead the way towards measures that must be taken. Both property owners and the banks are going to have to compromise and meet somewhere in the middle for us to get out of this mess.