In a recent press release, JPMorgan Chase announced it has reached a $13 billion settlement in principle negotiated by the President's Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. This announcement was made a week following Freddie Mac announcing since 2009, $71.3 billion in dividends to be paid to the U.S. taxpayers and Fannie Mae announcing $114 billion in dividends to be paid through December 2013. In total the U.S. Treasury will receive over $198 billion in dividends. These companies have also created programs to assist individuals in distressed homes and implemented programs to prevent future poor business practices. This is great for potential buyers and individuals going through the foreclosure procedure but what about the individuals who have already lost their homes as a result of the meltdown? These families have been forgotten and were just collateral damage. To strength the housing market and increase home ownership, these agencies responsible for the meltdown have to assist those families who have lost there homes.
Simple measure to assist those whom have lost their homes is to commit resources to develop a claim center with federal fraud oversight. The claim center will be responsible helping families find a house of equal or comparable value to the home lost; assist with a below market interest rate loan; provide a down-payment exemption; and work with credit agencies to repair individual's credit.
For individuals currently unemployed or not financially capable of paying on a house, the claim center needs to establish a reasonable grace period equal to the previous ownership period. This will allow those individuals time to get back on his or her feet.
The measure will help the home ownership rates rebound from what is currently reported by the U.S. Census Bureau as record lows this year.
Home ownership is the key to America's economic recovery. The two goes hand and hand. When home ownership is up, the economy is stable. Although ownership is low, it is getting better. This is evident in Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and JPMorgan Chase's ability to report steady profits. As long as the profits continue and the companies make good on their promises, the economy will continue to grow along with the housing market.
I think this is a good, informative post. But this week was the finale--where was your concluding post?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that home ownership is the key to America's prosperity. We just have to find a way to pay workers more so that they have healthy options in home ownership and security in monthly payments!