Cummings Continues The Fight To Prevent Foreclosures

Cummings Continues The Fight To Prevent Foreclosures

Congressman asks banks to improve customer service in mortgage modifications.

(Baltimore, MD) – Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) today sent a letter to more than a dozen lenders throughout the Baltimore area that are engaged in mortgage modification procedures, particularly those participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The letter asks for an accounting of each lenders practices, with regard to these mortgage modifications.

HAMP is a program aimed at stemming the tide of foreclosures, while sharing responsibility among the government, the mortgage industry and individual borrowers. 

“I am concerned that HAMP servicers lack the infrastructure or the willingness to mitigate foreclosures in a consistent, transparent, or responsible manner, and in compliance with HAMP guidelines,” said Cummings, in the letter. “For instance, the 528,000 borrowers who have had their trial loan modifications fail far exceed the 389,000 borrowers who have entered permanent loan modifications. 

“As noted by the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, the stories from housing counselors and borrowers that include, ‘servicers losing their paperwork, lacking adequate staff, failing to tell borrowers why they are being denied, and in some cases, failing to follow the program’s rules...’ come with enough frequency to raise questions about whether servicers are fully committed to HAMP’s success.”

The letter requests an immediate response to nine specific concerns heard frequently by Congressman Cummings’ staff.

Cummings has been a consistent and vocal crusader toward mitigating the wave of foreclosures striking the United States. Cummings has held four Foreclosure Prevention Seminars in the Baltimore area. These seminars have matched thousands of Marylanders to their lenders, in a one-on-one situation, allowing them to negotiate a debt solution, so that foreclosure can be avoided. Cummings also employs several constituent service staff members whose primary goal is working with Marylanders to avoid foreclosure.

As a Congressman, Cummings has also taken legislative steps, including the billion-dollar “bridge loan” program he created and championed, which was folded into the recent Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill. The program creates small, low-interest loans for homeowners who are between jobs or need a small amount of assistance to return their mortgages to current status.

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