Frank Wants Systematic Approach to Foreclosures

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is demanding that other major servicers follow Bank of America's model and adopt plans for "immediate mass modifications" to stem the flood of foreclosures. Rep. Frank also put 10 major banks and servicing companies on notice that they are expected to report to his committee by Oct. 17 on their plans to adopt a systematic approach to loan modifications. "Hope Now and other industry initiatives have had too little impact to meet the large and growing need for widespread relief," Rep. Frank says in a letter to the companies and industry trade groups. The committee chairman stresses the BoA/Countrywide settlement agreement to modify nearly 400,000 subprime and payment-option mortgages should serve as a template for the rest of the industry. "It is essential that every mortgage servicer firmly commit to implement plans for immediate mass modifications based on, or stronger than, the measures BoA/Countrywide has undertaken," Rep. Frank says in the Oct. 8 letter.