So Obama,,, what have you done for me lately ????
NY Times
By SHAILA DEWAN and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
2/5/12
Deal Is Closer for a U.S. Plan on Mortgage Relief
Quote:
<snip>California has been focused on measures that would benefit individual homeowners, while
New York has been most interested in preserving its ability to investigate the root causes of the financial collapse.
<snip>
The biggest remaining holdout, California, has returned to the negotiating table
after a four-month absence, a change of heart that could increase the pot for mortgage relief
nationwide to $25 billion from $19 billion.
Another important potential backer, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York,
has also signaled that he sees progress on provisions that prevented him from supporting it in the past.
<snip>
The settlement would require banks to provide billions of dollars in aid to homeowners
who have lost their homes to foreclosure or who are still at risk, after years of failed attempts
by the White House and other government officials to alter the behavior of the biggest banks.
The banks — led by the five biggest mortgage servicers, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,
Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial — want to settle an investigation into abuses
set off in 2010 by evidence that they foreclosed on borrowers with only a cursory examination
of the relevant documents, a practice known as robo-signing.
Four million families have lost their homes to foreclosure since the beginning of 2007.
<snip>
The backers of the latest deal insist their plan has more teeth,
with a powerful outside monitor to oversee enforcement and heavy monetary penalties
if banks fail to live up to commitments.
<snip>
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