News broke today that the talk of 4% interest rates for all have been shelved by the Obama administration and the focus of the pending foreclosure prevention plan will likely be a standardized loan modification program that applies to all struggling homeowners whether they are behind on payments or not. Most loan modifications plans until now only kicked in when homeowners fell months behind on their mortgage payments. Here are some excerpts from a recent Reuters story on the subject:
The Obama administration is hammering out a program to subsidize mortgage payments for troubled homeowners who have gone through a standardized re-appraisal and affordability test, sources familiar with the plan said on Thursday.
The program would be a major break from existing aid programs, which are triggered once homeowners fall into arrears.
…
Under the plan being mulled, homeowners would have to make a case of hardship to qualify for new loan terms.
Housing policymakers weighed but have for now shelved one plan that would have seen the government stand behind low-cost mortgages of between 4 and 4.5 percent, sources said.
Lockhart said that policymakers are eager to prevent a large drop in home values from their current, deflated levels.