Edward J. Hershewe General Practice Law Blog on Lawyers.com

How Will the New Stimulus Package Help You?

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 by Edward J. Hershewe

Hiring an attorney to ensure your rights under Joplin, Missouri predatory lending laws makes even more sense under the Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established in 2009 by the Obama administration.

Under this executive order, written to strengthen efforts to combat financial crime (including those violating predatory lending law and other mortgage laws), there is a stepped up effort to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes. The intent is to ensure appropriate punishment for the perpetrators of financial crimes, including those who discriminate in lending and to recover damages for violation of any type of mortgage law.

While not technically part of either the Bush-era bailout package of 2008 or the Obama administration economic stimulus program of 2009, the work of this task force arguably is about creating financial security with far-reaching implications.

Investigating financial fraud

Attorney General Eric Holder has pledged investigation of all levels of financial and corporate wrongdoing, including those perpetrated upon homeowners, to create more stable and safer financial systems. The task force complements the work of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Hope for Homeowners program, which allows homeowners to avoid foreclosure through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance program. The program is largely intended for borrowers with underwater conventional mortgages, where the balance owed is more than the current market value of the property). Other details of this program include:

The Hope for Homeowners program is available only until September 30, 2011.
It insures up to $300 billion in new loans, optimistically targeted to include 137,500 borrowers.
The program is voluntary for borrowers and lenders. In other words, a loan term modification is not compulsory. This assumes the banks and other lenders lose more in a foreclosure than under less profitable lending terms.
The program was modified in May 2009 to make it more attractive to lenders.

The program has yet to achieve resounding success. For more information on how mortgage law can help you achieve better home loan terms, contact the predatory lending law firm of Hershewe at 877-382-9734 or contact us online today for a free consultation.

Posted at 13:42 PM

Topic: General Practice