Mortgage Defaulters Are In Deep Trouble
The Fed is getting tough on mortgage defaulters.
Word has just reached me that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Housing Finance Agency will now begin to search out "strategic defaulters". Strategic defaulters are usually underwater homeowners who have walked away from their mortgages even though they had the means to pay.
The OIG's goal will be to collect monies owed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage loans, estimated to be in excess of $1-billion nationally.
In addition to developing methods for identifying strategic defaulters and beginning collection procedures, OIG has issued an even more harsh warning: If someone identified as a strategic defaulter ever fails to disclose that they walked away from a previous loan on a new loan applicaton, the OIG will consider the omission to be mortgage fraud and they will refer the individual(s) for criminal prosecution.
"We are not just going to demand repayment, we're going to lock (people) up," said Heather Wolfe, an OIG assistant inspector general for audits.
I'm just wondering ... how do all those people who had their lawyer arrange for them to do a strategic default feel right now? Maybe a bit uneasy?
Word has just reached me that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Federal Housing Finance Agency will now begin to search out "strategic defaulters". Strategic defaulters are usually underwater homeowners who have walked away from their mortgages even though they had the means to pay.
The OIG's goal will be to collect monies owed on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage loans, estimated to be in excess of $1-billion nationally.
In addition to developing methods for identifying strategic defaulters and beginning collection procedures, OIG has issued an even more harsh warning: If someone identified as a strategic defaulter ever fails to disclose that they walked away from a previous loan on a new loan applicaton, the OIG will consider the omission to be mortgage fraud and they will refer the individual(s) for criminal prosecution.
"We are not just going to demand repayment, we're going to lock (people) up," said Heather Wolfe, an OIG assistant inspector general for audits.
I'm just wondering ... how do all those people who had their lawyer arrange for them to do a strategic default feel right now? Maybe a bit uneasy?
-30-
posted by Terry Ward at 1:21 PM
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