Obama Offers a Rescue Plan for Homeowners

Posted by thanhlt

February 20, 2010

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President
Barack Obama has a plan to deal with a central cause of the economic crisis: America’s
troubled housing market.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Through this plan, we will help
between seven and nine million families restructure or refinance their mortgages
so they can avoid foreclosure.”

A repossessed home in Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix area has been hit hard by the housing crisis.

A home in Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix area has been hit hard by the housing crisis.

The Homeowner Affordability and
Stability Plan is the biggest effort yet to help struggling homeowners. It could
cost as much as two hundred seventy-five billion dollars.

Under the plan, up to five million owners could refinance
their loans through the two mortgage companies now controlled by the government.
These people are current in their payments but unable to get lower interest
rates because their home value has fallen.

Millions of owners are “underwater,” meaning they
owe more than their home is worth.

The
government will ease rules for loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. And it will buy an additional one hundred billion dollars of stock
in each company.

Another part of the plan is expected to cost
seventy-five billion. It could help as many as three to four million owners
change the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure.

The
goal is to reduce monthly payments for five years to no more than thirty-one
percent of the borrower’s monthly income. If a lender agrees to a reduction,
the government would partly match the amount.

Mortgage
servicers, lenders and borrowers will receive incentive payments for the
success of restructured loans.

Past efforts have excluded homeowners
who continue to pay their loans. The Obama administration says the earlier
those in trouble can get help, the more chance for long-term success.

But
some critics say the plan does not do enough to deal with parts of the crisis,
such as rewriting loans that were sold as securities.

The president announced the plan Wednesday in
Arizona, a state with many houses repossessed by lenders. A day earlier, he
signed his economic recovery plan in neighboring Colorado.

He
says the housing plan will not help dishonest lenders or irresponsible
borrowers, or save every home. “But,” he says, “it will give
millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild.”

The administration will release more
detailed guidance on March fourth. It says major parts of the program use authority
already provided by Congress, but some pieces require approval. For example: giving
bankruptcy court judges new powers to reduce mortgages without lender approval
– so-called cramdowns.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report,
written by Mario Ritter. I’m Doug Johnson.