Sense on Cents

No news is good news, right?

Well, that may work in raising teenagers but when it comes to public policy in general and housing policy specifically the American public deserves to know what is going on. Why? American taxpayers are picking up the tab, that’s why.

Regrettably, our wizards in Washington are often reluctant to provide the transparency the American public deserves.

I witness this dynamic again today in reviewing a story on the mortgage modification program. The Wall Street Journal puts a positive spin on developments in the mortgage modification process by writing, Mortgage Program Gathers Steam After Slow Start:

The Obama administration said Tuesday that its mortgage-modification program has enrolled one in five eligible homeowners, a sign the effort is gathering momentum after a slow start. But so far few of those trial modifications are turning into permanent fixes.

The Making Home Affordable program has begun trial modifications for more than 650,000 borrowers since it was launched in February, according to data released Tuesday by the Treasury Department. That amounts to 20% of those eligible for the program. More than 217,000 trial modifications, or roughly one-third, were under way in just two states: California and Florida.

The program provides financial incentives to mortgage companies and investors to reduce loan payments to affordable levels. The Treasury Department said the program was on track to meet its goal of offering help to between 3 million and 4 million borrowers over the next several years. Those who are 60 days or more delinquent on their mortgages or at risk of imminent default are eligible.

Whether the program will ultimately be judged a success will depend upon how many trial modifications become permanent. To receive a permanent fix, borrowers must be current on their payments in the trial program after three months and submit a hardship affidavit and other documents.

The administration won’t release figures on completed modifications until December…

Won’t release figures on completed modifications until December? Why not? What’s up with that?

Where can one turn to find this information? You’ve come to the right place. I addressed this very point on October 29th in writing “Mortgage Modifications: Statistically Insignificant.” In that commentary, I highlighted the following:

• 1,080 borrowers had successfully completed the trial period and received HAMP modifications.

Yep. A whopping 1,080 borrowers have successfully completed the trial period and received modifications. A full .5% of those modifications that had started. Yes, a full 1,080 homeowners.

What was the source of that information? A Review of the TARP produced in October by the General Accounting Office. Check page 93 in the report. It’s right there. A full 1,080 mortgages.

Won’t release information? Come on. You don’t think The Wall Street Journal has access to that information?

When our political leaders are not held to account, American interests are not served.

The American public deserves so much better.

LD

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 2:50 PM and is filed under General, Housing Crisis, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgages, Obama Administration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.