Today, President Barack Obama threw a $75 billion lifeline to millions of Americans on the brink of foreclosure, declaring an urgent need for drastic action. Not only to save their homes but to keep the housing crisis "from wreaking even greater havoc" on the broader national economy. The lending plan, a full $25 billion bigger than the administration had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 9 million homeowners from being evicted and to stabilize housing markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession.Government support pledged to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is being doubled as well, to $400 billion, as part of an effort to encourage them to refinance loans that are "under water". Meaning those in which market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe. The goal is to lower many endangered homeowners' payments to no more than 31 percent of their income.Additionally, a $75 billion Homeowner Stability Initiative would provide incentives to mortgage lenders to cut monthly payments in an effort to persuade them to help up to 4 million borrowers on the verge of foreclosure. The goal: cut monthly mortgage payments to sustainable levels, using money from the $700 billion financial industry bailout passed by Congress last fall.
I believe these are vital initiatives and all of which we should become aware of and help push to save not only the economy but the many people (people we know) facing foreclosure.
Annie Osburn
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