Obama Foreclosure Prevention Plan On Hold

President-elect Barack Obama wants Congress to pass his massive economic stimulus bill shortly after he takes office on Jan. 20 and he will hold off on proposing a "sweeping" plan to prevent foreclosures. In a CNBC-TV interview, Mr. Obama said he will work with the chairmen of the House and Senate banking committees in developing the foreclosure plan. "I expect to unveil plans to prevent foreclosures in consultation with [Rep.] Barney Frank and [Sen.] Chris Dodd, who've done some very good work on this, sometime in the next month or two," he told CNBC. On Wednesday, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., told MortgageWire he didn't know when Obama's team would send the stimulus bill to Congress, but he is urging them to include a bankruptcy provision that allows judges to modify mortgages on primary residences. Meanwhile, it appears that some in the mortgage industry may put aside their long-standing opposition to bankruptcy modifications -- provided it is a last resort and servicers have tried to modify the loan first. The Wall Street Journal reported that Citicorp is in discussions with key Senators on a possible bankruptcy compromise.