Countrywide to provide mortgage relief in Hawaii
Advertiser Staff
About 2,400 Hawai'i homeowners who are behind in mortgage payments or are being threatened with foreclosure may gain some help from lender Countrywide Financial Corp. and its parent company, Bank of America.
The state's Office of Consumer Protection announced it had reached an agreement with the lenders designed to help subprime and adjustable rate mortgage borrowers who bought homes with loans from Countrywide.
The accord calls for eligible Hawai'i owner occupants to modify terms of their Countrywide loans to make them more affordable. Others who are being threatened with foreclosure of their subprime or pay-option adjustable rate loans may have that process suspended until a determination can be made on their ability to to afford loan modifications.
"We hope this will set a benchmark for some of the other lenders out there," said Steve Levins, Office of Consumer Protection executive director.
The agreement also calls for:
Under the settlement, Bank of America/Countrywide also has agreed to stop offering pay option ARMs and significantly curtail offering "low-documentation" and "no-documentation" loans, initiate an early identification and contact program for borrowers who have trouble making their payments, and continue working with non-profits, federal agencies, and state regulators on ways to use real estate owned and other properties for community development.
