Let’s hold this guy to his word as reports telling us the opposite continue to come in: “We’ve had very, very strong modification programs in place for quite some time,” said Greg Zeeman, executive vice president and chief servicing officer for HSBC’s Consumer and Mortgage Lending group. Remember Greg, just plowing thousands of dollars on to the back end of the loan doesn’t really count when the buyer is so far upside down it isn’t funny. HSBC says new efforts won’t change what they do because they’ve already been proactive. OK Greg, let’s see the proof.
Example: The Castros fell behind on their $152,000 mortgage from consumer lender HFC after his salary at Delphi Corp. was cut when he entered semi-retirement. Monthly payments shot up from $1,500 to $2,000 because the lender was paying their back taxes, and a partial payment plan wasn’t working. A representative from HSBC Finance, which owns HFC, put their arrears at the end of the loan and brought them current.
Current huh? He’s still retired, their payment is still $2000 per month, and they still owe more than the house is worth. Another borrower said he got a temporary adjustment down to 5.79 percent, bringing his payment down from almost $1,000 to $578, but it went back up to 11 percent after six months. Later an HSBC official brought his rate down to 5.5 percent, or $567 a month — but for just 18 months. Do you think that house will sell, even as a short sale? Probably not. What does the borrowers credit report look like now? Not that great.
Yes, I know the title of this article looks funny, but if the truth were known there is nothing funny about Greg Zeeman and his so-called help. Five pounds of it in a two-pound bag still smells of adjustable rate loans and false promises.
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