Thanks for this analysis- I hadn't read anything quite so clear yet. I really hope it works- I'm not a homeowner myself, but some of my friends and family have been quite affected.

I am not a fan of the giving $1000 a year for three years to those people in this predicament who do then start paying their mortgage on time.

That is completely unfair to those who have been paying their mortgage on time for years and still continue to do.

Of course, I'll need to carefully read the whole thing, but for the most part, when the government starts moving money around from one place to another, trouble almost always results. I personally could benefit, since our home's value has bottomed out since our purchase a mere 3 years ago, while our interest rate has not. We have been unemployed for 6 months and have not missed a payment. We're doing all we can to keep up. But I'm not convinced we would accept this "help" if it were offered. I don't want my problems to become the problems of our society at large, nor put a debt load on my grandchildren.

Yeah, our country is in tough times. There've been tougher, and it might get worse. I don't think the actions that are being taken now are the right way to handle it at all.

I'm not a fan of this plan.

Our system, flawed as it may be, rewards good decisions and punishes poor ones. That's the secret of our success.

When you "tweak" the system in such a drastic way, you destroy it.

Even if you're paying your bills on time, and aren't underwater, this benefits you--it keeps your neighbors from being forclosed upon, thus driving down home value in your neighborhood, keeping houses occupied, and preventing suburban decay.

You can be a perfect model of economic responsibility, but if three houses on your street are forclosed and empty, when vandals and vagrants move in, you are still screwed. It is in your best interest to keep your neighbors solvent.

Quote Laura "You can be a perfect model of economic responsibility, but if three houses on your street are forclosed and empty, when vandals and vagrants move in, you are still screwed. It is in your best interest to keep your neighbors solvent."

Ah BS. Rewarding bad behavior will not make anyone change their ways, thus in a few months the whole cycle repeats (e.g. Car companies begging for more money because they are not forced to make hard choices). So after some period of time and lots more wasted money, the deadbeats are either kicked out or given another loan.

A loan that people who made good decisions have to pay for in one way or another.

Why should I pay my mortgage if I can get my neighbors to pay large chunks of it for me? All I have to do is pretend to want to pay (and send a check every few months) while threating to have some 'vandals and vagrants' if the gov't does not keep forcing other to pay for me.

Bah, it is just extortion or a variation of, 'Thats a nice house you have there Mister, be a shame if something happened to it....' unless you pay them their protection fee.

The responsible and honest always pay for the criminal behavior of others. Yes, being responsible does not get you anywhere these days. It's a matter of morals and integrity. Fortunately (or unfortunately) some of us will always do the right thing even as our taxes, insurance, and the cost of food and merchandise rise because others do not have the same moral fotitude as you. As a single mother of three children, I lived in apartments while saving and making sure to keep a "good" credit rating so I could purchase a home within my means for myself and three children in a safe neighborhood with top-rated schools. I too was given the opportunity to take advantage of non-conventional loans. However, I bought a reasonably-priced home, paid 10% down (avoiding PMI), and obtained a qualifying 30-Year Fixed mortgage. My solution... get rid of compounded interest. I pay $200 a month towards the principal of my loan and $1155 a month in interest!

If the government would modify the structure of the mortgage loan, I'd be paying $1155 towards my home and $200 to the greedy bankers. My reward would be a paid- off home in 10 years! That's how a "responsible" homeowner should be rewarded.

I love the comment "F### the Feds. Thats how I feel about these rip-off plans. All of them, regardless of their pretty words, are just f@@@ing thieves..."

Do you have any realization of the impact of those underwater in their mortgages, those being thrown into unemployment, etc.. would/will have on your world? It's a snowball that rolls downhill and will hit you along the way, no matter how hard you have worked to make yourself prepared.

In the end all everything we have is impermanent, it really is only with us for a limited time, like we are (we do have a finite life). We might as well do our best to try and help those out around us, though it may seem to hurt us initially, in the end we all win and we are all better off for it. Even though it may have been of their own volition this does not mean that we cannot or do not help those around us.

Don't be so closed minded, the world can only become a better place if we help those around us.

President Obama was careful to exclude certain classes of homeowners from the mortgage bailout, but he didn't go far enough.

What about those people who got a mortgage on non-fraudulent terms but then used home equity loans as a piggybank and now owe more on those houses than their values will support for the foreseeable future? They ought to be excluded -- but they're not.

What is the difference between the writedown on home principal values which will have to occur to keep borrowers' mortgage payments below 38% -- and foreclosure (except that the proposed plan keeps the irresponsible in those houses while foreclosure at least gives someone responsible a chance)?

The goal is worthwhile, but it does too much to keep whole the irresponsible, and it punishes those who live within their means.

There's no time for accountability. We're on the crest of a massive downward spiral. This is just one more plan to throw around money we don't have. Surprisingly, that's not a negative comment. It's obvious no one knows what actions are necessary. They bailed out of Bear Stearns. That didn't look good so they let Lehman fail. A catastrophe. AIG gets $150 billion (responsibility?). Congress approved $700 billion TARP to buy up toxic assets but then it was handed out without strings. Obviously that wasn't rewarding responsibility. The banks were expected to start lending. Nope. And now there's more talk about buying toxic assets.

It's a mess and we will continue bailouts, without regard to responsibility. Autos, States and Cities, Insurance, Airlines, on and on. Taxpayer money flying everywhere without consideration for merit of the recipient. We will probably hand GM more than their market value. We could just buy all the stock at $2/sh.

At this point I'm pleased to see some help for the little guy. Maybe not for the speculator or the flipper. But someone trying to keep his home is different. Maybe they were suckered into overspending but they didn't have a chance against the "industry experts" who were basically gaming the system. By some measures over half the financed properties in the country are under water. If we don't turn this around, and soon, we will all lose.

I'm old fashioned and believe that a contract is a contract is a contract... and that it takes two willing parties to enter into a contract. If the terms of the contract cannot be met, then both parties should feel the pain so they are wiser next time. Certainly, the poor, the ignorant, and the greedy were preyed upon by some unscrupulous lenders, but why should the American taxpayer subsidize their efforts to possess more house than their income can afford? The sooner we get through this housing pain, the sooner we can begin the recovery. Government efforts like this will only prolong the pain and the economic downturn.

This plan is doomed to failure for two reasons. First, as for the unemployed, there is nothing the plan can do for them because they cannot afford to re-pay any loan. No lender will re-work a loan for someone with no job. Second, the Comptroller of the Currency - which tracks mortgage default rates - confirms that 58% of homeowners who had their loans modified in 2008 RE-DEFAULTED within 8 months. No one is talking about that statistic because it drives a stake right through the heart of this plan.

okay, so lets do nothing. there were no oversights in place, obviously, when these lenders were giving these BS loans so lets leave everything as is. And no, I don't want to hear any of you yelling for government intervention when your house is worth squat because of all the vacant foreclosed houses in your neighborhood or when you or hubby lose your job. none of you even took one moment to think maybe, just maybe it does help someone who acted responsibly but saw their income diminish considerably, i.e., layoff. you all must lead a charmed life, whatever income you have will never be affected, ever and no sudden illness will never befall a member of your fam. boy, it must be nice to be all of you. Me, I'm just one of those "loser" homeowners, that low and behold, got let go from their well paying job only to not be able to find comparable work and silly me. So working the 2 partimers that pays only 40% of my previous salary has put me in a very daunting position. Loser. Ah, yes but I live in the real world. I will be glad when that real world knocks on a couple of your doors.

While I agree with your sentiment about the bribes for the mortgage lenders and loan modifiers, look at it this way: these once-great jobs are now lousy jobs. Most of these yahoos who are still employed are burning through their profits. These people need work. If you didn't bribe them, they wouldn't do the work. This is partly a jobs program of sorts.

It seems like what will happen is, if the refinance and cram down are applied, the lenders will get back their principal, but lose the profit (and then some), due to the payment schedule being drawn out so long.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Banks will potentially have all these assets that pay a low interest rate for a long, long time. Foreclosures, which are just losses, become assets-of a sort.

That's stability.

That bogeyman about the foreclosed houses in the hood are only true in working-class areas, and yuppie areas, where the old rentals were sold to sub-prime borrowers. In stable neighborhoods, so few houses were sold that there won't be much of an issue.

Also, people who get these cram downs will tend to stay during the duration of this depression. If they walk away from the loan, they will ruin their credit and likely spend more money on a rental.

There's simply no way to prop up peak bubble prices in the most overheated markets.

As much as we can sympathize, those of you who paid $475,000 for a home when comps on your street are now selling for $325,000 or less likely will not get any money back out of the house.

Regardless of how much money the government throws around.

If your income has dropped to or by 40% of previous levels it is now time to have a yard sale and look for a smaller, cheaper rental.

Rather than expect you will be able, somehow, to hang on to the house.

I still see on TV people on a single disability income hoping they will somehow be able to keep their 4-bedroom house.

I think it's a great plan. It's not just helping out the bogus sub prime mortgages that were written. It will help alot of people lower there mortgage payments. If you had pay cuts, or lost your job, or even your hrs cut at work. It will be a good thing. Start thinking positive, he is a caring classy President, Who want's to help the middle class, and the unfortunate. Wake up people,he came into this mess.At least he is doing something about it. We had nothing but 8 years of taking care of the rich people. It's about time, we have a president who cares about the economy.

Oh and I think its a great plan - Obama did not "come into this" he campaigned for it, bought it and wanted it. We hardly plucked Obama off the streets and assigned this job to him, remember how badly he campaigned for it. Clinton deregulated Wall Street (Democrat.) Barney Frank (Democrat) and those like him, including Obama, supported these subprime loans for the disadvantaged or whatever the hell they were calling people with no SS number, no job, no means of paying back a house loan under the umbrella of not "discriminating. What a joke.

Obama was as much if not more a part of creating this mess then people want to hear. What a joke, he inherited this? He WANTED it. And when the truth becomes clear, his intent was and always will be to take American into Socialism and he is on a fast tract toward that end. He's moving so fast toward socialism or worse, only the 40% of the people who pay absolutely no federal income tax will ultimately benefit. Oh and yeah, the illegals he loves so much.

I'm wondering about the morality of taking the loan modification when we don't really "need" it, too. I think we will qualify - I lost my job, and while husband is still employed, he's at a 10% salary cut. When we bought the house 6 years ago, we were at 26% debt ratio. Now, it's at 52%. And yet...we have savings, from the good years. We live frugally, have no other debt. I probably could get another job if I tried. We still have equity in our home, and could sell if we had to, and move to a lower cost of living area.

So, do I "deserve" the help of a lower interest rate? Not sure. But, at the same time your comment "I don't want my problems to become the problems of our society at large, nor put a debt load on my grandchildren" - made me wonder if you are intending on collecting social security, medicare, etc. Certainly these entitlements are putting a huge strain on our children, too, but I don't see too many people sending them back to the government with a "no thanks".

I am disappointed in the mortgage plan, as I understand it. We have a great loan and have never been delinquent. But, in the last two years, we have had some major money expenses. All of them were surprizes. A 0bout with cancer and all its bills, even with great insurance, and a situation with our daughter that required much moolah. So, we have scrimpt and worked hard to make the house payments, but have so many bill collectors for our medical bills and such, that we hardly answer any phone calls. This bill doesn't seem to consider any other types of hardships caused by mortgage payments. And, gives no credit to the people who made the mortgage payments.

We probably would have been better off not paying the mortgage in the long run, because we are still in the same bad way with our bills as we ever were. And yet we don't qualify for any help.
(I was/am such a strong Obama supporter - this makes me sad.)

To whom can help

I have been a target of countrywide, inabilities and practices of bad business practices,

We had a 30 year note with Chase and never late,

Now with Countrywide and was promised a refinance on a 15 years note to 30 year note with there new Modification loan program this started in Feb 2009, and we call every month several time to ask about it and was told everything was Ok and will hear something shortly.
That was in March, Lisa James

We heard something alright on April15 a notice to Foreclosure, and need to come up with 2 months payment and the Mays payment also

We call several times and talked to 6 people with no help just Phone tags

So we when to the Locale office and the Person we first talked to (Jason Guinther) was there we told him the story and the he call countrywide, after talking to there office for 30mins, he said they were never going to notified us that we don’t qualify for the program or even why,

The inability for them to notified us doesn’t constitute an hardship for us,

I thing they encourages there people in this tactics,

Can anyone help us and advise a place to call anything

Vwf4506@insightbb.com

I only have till May the 8 according to the letter

Thanks very much in this very important matter