Governor of Florida Working With Bankers for Moratorium on Foreclosures
Charlie Crist, the governor of Florida, is working with bankers to put a moratorium on foreclosures at least during the Christmas and New Year holidays. He hopes that by the beginning of next month he will be able to make the moratorium announcement. Crist held the meeting with top banking officials, including the president of Florida Banker’s Association, Alex Sanchez.
Sanchez’s group is the biggest and most powerful banking institution in Florida. He said that they were willing to consider modifying loans of house owners but not those of speculators. After the meeting Sanchez said, “Anyone who’s behind in payments please contact your bank ASAP. The banks will work with you to keep you in your home. If you have three Lexuses or three Mercedes in the driveway, we can do nothing to help those folks. Sanchez was of the view that those who purchased houses to speedily ‘flip’ them for sharp profits had been instrumental in creating the current foreclosure related crisis.
The governor commented that if the foreclosures were put on hold temporarily then the ball would be in the court of the lenders. The governor will have to say what will be done when the time expires. He added, “But at least during the holidays I think it’s important that we show compassion to Florida’s families as much as we can.”
Many of the borrowers in Florida are already benefiting from a moratorium that has been declared in the previous week by the mortgage giants – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They have also put on hold during the holidays foreclosure proceedings. After January 9th, they would again take up the matter in due course.
Crist is not yet sure as to whether foreclosures can be forcibly halted by means of an executive order or whether a court injunction would be required. But he said that he would be happy if the lenders came forward to help of their own accord. He added, “That’s why I wanted to meet with Alex this morning and get an opportunity to take their temperature on their willingness to help us out, help Florida out.” However he admitted that the moratorium would extend to only those who were current occupant/owners of the houses and not to investors and speculators seeking to get a profit.
Florida ranked third with the highest foreclosure rate in October 2008 with the proportion being 1:157. In Nevada and Arizona, the foreclosure rate is approximately 1:74 and 1:149 respectively.
