The Harsh Realities of Foreclosure Prevention Programmes
Mark and Terri Laliberte had been struggling to save their home in Thomaston since they came across foreclosure threats pasted on their garage a day following 2008 Christmas. Mark, a toolmaker has been rather down in his earnings without overtime and regular pay packets. They were lagging behind on their mortgage payments but desperately hung onto their house as they had two little sons to care for – one being affected with Down’s syndrome. They took legal help to steer them through the mediation process.
Last fall they felt optimistic when the thought their lender, HSBC, would allow them trial modification. Last October they went to meet the lawyer of the lender to sign the papers but failed to locate him; worse the lawyer claimed to be ignorant about their particular case. The mediation matter should have been wrapped up within 90 days but a year has gone without any positive development. The couple is still waiting to sign the necessary papers. They are agreeing that it was their fault to lag behind but now they are trying to rectify matters. Unfortunately they cannot contact anyone who will help them.
HSBC replied by e-mail that it cannot make any comments on “individual customer matters.”
The Lalibertes are one among many households who are learning the realities of the mediation programmes launched by the administration. The plan is now in its second year. It requires lenders and servicers to make a sincere effort to find out alternatives to foreclosures. But the message carries no guarantee that they would do so.
Robert Palmer the manager of the programme said, “We are still having difficulty getting answers from large national servicers. The good news is, we don’t let them out of mediation until we get an answer.” Palmer has just started to track cases from the beginning could not give any positive data about the time it takes. The interviews between the concerned parties produced varying results. Some cases took 90 to 120 days while others dragged on much longer.
Some critics say that it is the owners who often delay the process by turning up at the mediation events without the necessary documents. But the accusing finger generally points at the servicers. The mediation measure tries to keep the plan moving by insisting that the lawyers of the servicers have the necessary authority to ink an agreement or have direct contact with the right person to do so. But this does not come to any use when the documents are not in place.
