Project Lifeline

The catchy monikers keep on coming - let's hope some real help will follow. Today, the federal government announced Project Lifeline, a new program by the same lenders that brought us HOPE NOW. Project Lifeline aims to serve a broader spectrum of delienquent borrowers. Homeowners who are at least 90 days overdue on their mortgage payments may have the opportunity to put their mortgage payment on hold for 30 days while they try to work out a solution with the lender.
So far, the lenders are mentioning temporary rate freezes and payment arrangements to help borrowers catch up on the overdue mortgage payments. I'm not sold on the fact that either will do more than forestall some inevitable foreclosures. (Let's see...my mortgage payment doubled this month...but the lender agreed to freeze the rate...all I have to do now is find a job that pays twice as much and I'm back on easy street!) OK, enough of the non-constructive sarcasm, back to the story...
The participating lenders are Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo. They will be sending out letters to qualifying homeowners. Homeowners may also call the HOPE NOW hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE.
In related news, a Clayton, NC family was featured in "The Kitchen Table", an ABC News series. This definitely brings the national mortgage story home to the Triangle. The couple in the story, Susan and Michael Walker, bought their home for $172,000, which is around the average price of a home in Durham, and cheaper than most in Raleigh. A no money down, adjustable rate mortgage has proven to be more than they can handle.
See the video: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4211122&affil=wtvd