More Mortgage Lenders Sign On To Project Lifeline
Last week, the Bush Administration announced that it would be working with mortgage lenders in a venture called Project Lifeline. This project, which originally included only six mortgage lenders, prominent among them Bank of America, has grown over the past week. Now, more mortgage lenders are including themselves. In fact, all of the Hope Now members are part of the Project Lifeline effort as well.
Project Lifeline is complementary to the Hope Now program unveiled late last year. Both projects are meant to help forestall foreclosures by helping borrowers get new home loan terms. This can be anything from a fixed rate to a new repayment structure. Hope Now was only for those with subprime mortgage loans, however. Project Lifeline is for any borrower in danger of foreclosure.
“Now that all Hope Now members have signed on, more than 90 percent of the subprime servicing market and nearly 70 percent of the entire mortgage servicing market is committed to this coordinated method of reaching more homeowners,” Paulson added.
While it certainly is a noble effort, questions remain as to how many foreclosures these measures will actually prevent. Additionally, it appears to be more of a cosmetic fix, helping mortgage lenders retain payments, rather than an effort to actually reform the mortgage industry and its practices.
Tags: Project Lifeline, Hope Now, home mortgage loan, mortgage blog,
subprime mortgage, mortgage lenders, foreclosures
