Feds to suspend some FL foreclosures through the holidays

Tampa Foreclosure News

Article Abstract: Christmas came early for some homeowners facing foreclosure in Florida. The two lending giants, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, will be suspending Florida foreclosure proceedings for six weeks until after the holidays. This will give individual lenders time to cut interest rates or hold off payments in order to get homeowners back on track. The plan will help those Florida owners who plan on staying in the home and utilize the home as their primary residence.  For the full Florida foreclosure prevention article, please continue reading below: 

 

By CRAIG PATRICK
FOX 13 NEWS

TAMPA -- It's a holiday surprise for thousands of homeowners in distress -- mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosure sales.

The federal government will try to re-work distressed mortgages, if they are guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The plan is extend loans or cut interest rates, to bring down payments, to hold off foreclosures.

It will take some time to determine who qualifies, and more time to re-work those loans.

To buy time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosure sales through the holidays. That will also hold off evictions, which will allow more families to stay in their homes, at least until January.

"We need moves like this to start to try to turn the economy around, and give people a little breathing space to get back on their feet," said Florida Consumer Action Network Executive Director Bill Newton.

In theory, those extra six weeks could give some borrowers just enough time to begin the process of negotiating new loans they could afford to keep paying. That should be very good news for some 16,000 borrowers in the Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac pools.

However, that represents a fraction of the borrowers in distress. Many of those distressed mortgages are jointly owned by a tangled web of investors, which could them hard to modify.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosure sales from next Wednesday through January 9th. Borrowers may qualify for modified loans if they are at least three months behind, and live in their homes, and are guaranteed by Fannie or Freddie.


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