Dear Sue,
I applied for and received a loan modification. I am very happy with my new payments but now I am having trouble making the payments on my line of credit.
Is there any other help available?
— Poor Paul
Dear Paul,
You are in luck. The Obama administration announced details of new efforts to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes.
“With these latest program details, we’re offering even more opportunities for borrowers to make their homes more affordable under the administration’s housing plan,” said the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Tim Geithner. “Ensuring that responsible homeowners can afford to stay in their homes is critical to stabilizing the housing market, which is in turn critical to stabilizing our financial system overall. Every step we take is done with that imperative in mind.”
A second lien program was introduced as part of the “making home affordable” initiative already in place. It will work in tandem with the first lien (loan) modifications.
When a first lien is modified, servicers participating in the second lien program will automatically reduce payments on the second according to pre-set protocol.
The second may be eliminated altogether in return for a lump-sum payment. The lump-sum payment would be made from a pre-set formula determined by the Department of the Treasury.
This new program will benefit up to 50 percent of homeowners with at-risk loans.
For further information on this and other programs go to financialstability.gov.
It could be a matter of good Home $$$s and Sense.
Sue Thompson is owner and sales manager of HomeTown Realtors. She can be reached at seesue@seehometown.com, or on the Web at www.homedollarsandsense.com.
