Major Banks Announce Halt in Foreclosures for One Month; Await Obama Plan Details

by Joshua Dorkin on February 14, 2009

As the spending stimulus package passed the House and Senate on Friday, lenders large and small took action to stem the tide of foreclosures (1 every 13 seconds) until more details were revealed about President Obama’s $50 billion plan (that’s the portion of the stimulus devoted to foreclosures, according to the AP).

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp said they were halting foreclosures for at least a month on Friday, followed by many smaller banks around the country.

This amounts to a triage until they can come up with a permanent solution,” said Anne L. Weintraub, a Sarasota attorney who specializes in real estate. “Banks are finally trying to come up with an alternative to foreclosure because it’s expensive and they don’t want to become property managers.

I hope the good folks making these decisions (politicians, big banks, etc) realize the implications on the business of lending that their actions will have. The incentive to lend money is fast disappearing . . . I better collect on the $10 bucks I lent to my buddy before that is also deemed unfair by the government!

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Dave Francis February 14, 2009 at 1:44 pm

Why do I bother paying my bills when people are getting rewarded for not paying theirs?

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2 Sam With Georgia Deal Makers February 14, 2009 at 6:15 pm

I’m just curious. I know there is a lot of knocking of this plan. I don’t feel the stimulus will be enough to fix the economy. I think it’s a temporary patch and may be used to buy time until something better comes along. But something has to be done. It is a huge amount of spending but what are the other alternatives? What would you guys do?

Sam With Georgia Deal Makers’s last blog post: Atlanta Property For Sale In Loring Heights Between Midtown And Buckhead

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3 PerfectMoney February 14, 2009 at 9:06 pm

About the stimulus,I rather hold it with my faith,what Obama says about the stimulus.perhaps works and perhaps dont,however with his decision to try to get out of the crisis ,I certainly sure it will bring hope.,and I dont think we need more then it for now,just wait and lets see.

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4 Dave Francis February 16, 2009 at 4:00 pm

No one knows what the plan actually is Sam. Supposedly we’ll hear all the details on Wednesday but if it is like the other plans that we’ve seen out of DC, it is just going to be another out of control spending disaster.

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5 Phil credit February 25, 2009 at 2:26 pm

I’m with Dave Francis on this one — why should I even bother to pay MY bills on time, if the people that don’t get a reward? It seems like another instance of putting a Band-aid on a bad wound instead of actually fixing what’s wrong.

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6 Justin cards March 6, 2009 at 9:17 am

Stimulus is a temporary solution to economic problem. Lets just hope and pray that Obama will fulfill his duties and responsibilities well. Nice post.

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