Over the last three years, banks have failed at an increasingly alarming rate. This year, more banks have failed in the first seven or eight months than in all of last year. Recently, the failure of a behemoth bank named “Colonial BancGroup” out of Alabama was shocking. The bank had tens of billions of dollars in assets, including quite a few billion dollars in mortgages. These sorts of challenges scare governments, banks, financial institutions and investors. The federal government has had to battle this fear by implementing stimulus programs, loan modification programs and other forms of aid to banks and consumers.
While the stimulus programs have come under fire, and people are protesting federal debt, banks are benefiting from the loan modifications they have been agreeing to. Loan modifications limit foreclosures by giving homeowners another way to stay in their homes.
For example, OneWest Bank of Pasadena is the savings bank which was created from the ashes of IndyMac Bancorp, a financial institution that collapsed under the weight of its bad mortgages. IndyMac was one of the leading banks in the subprime mortgage crisis. They even had a quite a few mortgages where the income of the homeowner was not properly documented.
While some of the mortgages have had problems, loan modifications have gone a long way to helping banks build a profit. The IndyMac situation is a semi-crisis, as they had a run on the bank and had to shut their doors. However, between the loan modification efforts of California loan modification attorneys and renewed ownership, the new OneWest Bank of Pasadena actually posted a profit. This is a long way from over however. OneWest had $137 million worth of foreclosed homes on their books on June 30, which is up from $18 million on March 31. However, without the loan modification efforts of qualified California loan modification attorneys, there is no telling how much larger the $137 million number would be.
It is reported that of the $6.6 billion in mortgages that OneWest has in its portfolio, nearly $2 billion were delinquent and/or facing foreclosure. With such a substantial number, the bank is desperately seeking ways to keep these people in their homes. Unlike global banks such as JP Morgan and Citi, OneWest is regional and cannot afford to simply write off billions of dollars in losses year after year. They need the homeowners to find ways to keep current with their mortgage payments, which absolutely includes loan modifications.
A California loan modification attorneycan help any homeowner decide if a loan modification is right for their situation. A is a way to lower your monthly mortgage payments to an amount that is more affordable for the homeowner, thus allowing him or her to stay in their home and homeowner. Loan modifications have been around for quite a long time, but were not really paid much attention to until recently.
If you are facing foreclosure, if your home value has faced a severe decrease in value or if you are afraid of falling way behind on your payments, contact a qualified California loan modification attorney today.
|
