Even as government officials prepare to unveil new standards this week for how banks treat millions of Americans facing foreclosure, housing advocates and homeowners are skeptical the rules will be able to do something past efforts have not: provide a beleaguered borrower with one individual to help them navigate the mortgage maze.
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Susan Hall has been trying to modify her mortgage since October 2009, but her case keeps going from one person to another.
Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of housing and urban development, vowed to end bank runarounds.
While the entire process of seeking a mortgage modification is complicated and time-consuming, few elements are as maddening as the inability to get through to a representative at the bank, or being asked for the same documents again and again.
So the promise of a single point of contact has emerged as a crucial element in the much-ballyhooed $26 billion settlement reached earlier this month involving state attorneys general, the federal government and the five biggest mortgage servicers. These rules will apply nationwide and come with commitments of strong enforcement by federal and state authorities, but they carry a familiar ring for those experienced in the foreclosure process.
Last April, the industry made many of the same pledges under a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of
Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/business/some-doubt-a-settlement-will-end-mortgage-ills.html?_r=1
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