subject: Are Foreclosure Rates Still Rising? A Look At The National Situation
[print this page] The question on many homeowners' minds is made in regards to foreclosure rates. Are they still rising? Where does the country currently stand in this foreclosure crisis? Most people asking these questions understand that the government has its hand in trying to solve the problem and improve statistics. Government bailout plans have been in place since October 2007 and another was released early in 2009, yet the national foreclosure rates have continued to increase in many places. Some cities and states are seeing decreases, but many experts are skeptical as to their permanence.
The problem lies in the vicious cycle associated with some people being in financial trouble while others want to prevent it from happening to them. You may be facing foreclosure, but your lender has many borrowers that may be in the same situation. If they make exceptions for everyone, they may end up putting themselves in the same dire straits. Because of the knowledge of this fact, a new government incentive plan has been put into place to encourage attorneys to help delinquent borrowers qualify for alternatives to foreclosure. Such options include loan modifications, affordable repayments plans or other compromises that both lenders and borrowers can agree is fair. After all, if your home is mortgaged, your lender discontinues receiving payments from you, and that is not what they want.
Back at the end of 2007, the United States Treasury Department was already putting together plans in an attempt to nip rising foreclosure rates in the bud. Unfortunately, there is clearly a flaw in the plans they have laid out as the number of homeowners who fall behind on their mortgage payments continues to rise. The reason is because no resources were made available in the assistance of the growing number of borrowers and the delay in aid led to even more foreclosures.
As the plans currently stand, there are at least five different bailout programs to assist in decreasing the rate of foreclosures nationwide. Thus far, none has been as successful as initially expected and hoped for. The argument made by many financial experts is that the reason these programs have failed to have the impact hoped for is because they are cheap-money policies. All they have really accomplished is a greater downward pressure on the state of the economy. With localized improvements in foreclosure rates, many hope the limited number of improvements will increase throughout the nation.
