Lew Sichelman, LA Times
If you are one of the millions of once-desperate homeowners who have had their loans reworked by a mortgage company to avoid foreclosure, it’s time to start facing the possibility of having to do it all over again.
Beginning this year, those whose loan terms were modified so that the interest rate dropped to as low as 2% will have to deal with higher rates that could, in some cases, drive the monthly payment as much as $1,724 higher.
Why? Because “permanent” interest rate reductions under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program were anything but. Whether participants realize it or not, rate reductions last for only five years. Consequently, the clock is ticking — especially for the earliest beneficiaries of the program, which was built to help underwater or financially strapped borrowers save their homes.
Exactly how many borrowers face higher rates and larger payments is unclear.
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