Innovative homeowner alternative energy financing mechanisms approved by voters last November in Pitkin, Eagle and Gunnison counties have been put on hold due to changes at the newly risk-adverse federal mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
According to the…
Just as a voluntary ban on foreclosures ended, a record jump in foreclosure activity in March is raising troubling questions about whether lenders and servicers are genuinely willing and able to do loan modifications on a large scale. And it poses an even more worrisome possibility: That many borrowers can’t be helped at all.
A ban on foreclosure sales and evictions from houses owned by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which began as a high-profile effort just before the holidays to keep people in their homes as the government tried to come up with homeowner rescue plans, is over.
Spokesmen for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac confirmed the ban ended March 31, in a response to an inquiry from our sister site, The Washington Independent. But its expiration didn’t seem to merit the same level of fanfare, with some housing advocates caught by surprise, scrambling for information today and Wednesday on listservs and in phone calls.
When the government bailed out Bear Stearns in March, plenty of people on Main Street complained it wasn’t fair to save an investment bank and do nothing to help homeowners.
Imagine how they feel now.
As the presidential campaign heats up, the candidates are sure to intensify their differences on national security, the Iraq war and tax relief for the middle class, and they’ll no doubt tear into each other’s positions during the coming debates. But, based on the contest so far, don’t look for either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain to take on the biggest, most troublesome economic problem facing many American families and financial institutions — the credit crunch.
The day before the federal government took over mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin railed against the mortgage giants’ drain on taxpayer money at a rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday. Only problem: the private corporations haven’t been costing taxpayers a dime and only might under a bailout program supported by Palin’s running mate, Sen. John McCain.
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