Alliance Plans Foreclosure Mailings

Members of the Hope Now alliance have agreed to do a mass mailing to reach 200,000 troubled borrowers and develop methods for quickly determining whether a loan modification or refinancing would prevent foreclosure, according to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson."Members of the alliance told me they are developing methods, criteria, and metrics that any industry participant can use to systematically evaluate a borrower's ability to pay a resetting adjustable mortgage," Secretary Paulson said. This approach will allow servicers to fast-track borrowers who are current on their ARM into a loan modification or refinancing and provide others with different options. Treasury Under Secretary Robert Steel, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Sandor Samuels, executive managing director of Countrywide Financial Corp., and others will be testifying at a House Financial Services Committee hearing Nov. 2 on the Hope Now efforts to prevent foreclosures and encourage loan modifications.