WP: Hurricane Victims' Bills Coming Due (3 mortgage payments due 12/1)

[DeepModem Mom]

Hurricane Victims' Bills Coming Due
Many Homeowners Face Deadline for Mortgage Payments
By Caroline E. Mayer and Terence O'Hara
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 1, 2005; Page D01


Katrina victims Ed and Elsa Gaskell realized only last week that their last three months' worth of mortgage payments on their damaged New Orleans home were due today.

After the hurricane, their mortgage company, like most lenders, suspended payments until Dec. 1.

The Gaskells said they thought that meant monthly payments would resume in December, with the three missed payments due at the end of their loan. But last week, they said, their mortgage lender called to say they needed to make all three payments now -- or face late fees and penalties as well as an adverse credit report.

Many lenders are extending the deadline for repayment or making arrangements to spread the payments over several months to make life easier on borrowers, some of whom are jobless and displaced....

***

But as the moratorium on payments comes to an end, borrowers, lenders and investors holding the notes are heading into uncharted territory, without clear guidance from the government or a historical precedent for what to do next....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002126.html

[UpInArms]

1. related: Freddie grants (new) suspension on hurricane-affected homes

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-12-01T152838Z_01_N015373_RTRIDST_0_FINANCIAL-FREDDIEMAC-HURRICANES-URGENT.XML

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Freddie Mae (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) granted a second three-month payment suspension on home loans it owns in major disaster areas caused by Gulf Coast hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the second largest U.S. home funding company said on Thursday.

The company said it directed its loan servicers to suspend mortgage collections from December through February 2006, extending the period that began in September.

Freddie Mac said it is also telling servicers not to report hurricane-related delinquencies to credit agencies through February, and "strongly advising" them to forego collecting penalties or late fees as mortgages are reinstated.

...short blurb...

If they're loan is back by Freddie Mac, they may still have a bit of wiggle room.

[Spinzonner]

2. Send in turnips

and let them squeeze the money out of them

[KamaAina]

3. Brilliant move, morans.

Foreclose on (what was once) billion$$$ worth of prime real estate like this: :sarcasm:

?

Then, watch your books get bloated with the unsalable stuff while your precious bank becomes a takeover target.

This, folks, is why greed (avarice) is one of the seven deadly ones.

[Up2Late]

4. You are so right, they could have easily just added these payments...

...to the end of the mortgages, as most had assumed.

[KamaAina]

5. Mercifully, at least one key player appears to have a clue.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-02-05/a15wn570.htm

O. Bruce Coffman, president of the Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association, said the industry is not eager to see a lot of foreclosures.
"We're not in the real estate business," he said. "They certainly don't want to own property that's been virtually destroyed. So I don't look for the mortgage services industry to pull out the knives on Dec. 1."

Once again, enlightened self-interest proves to be the most effective motivator.