Mortgage mod rules favor Wells Fargo

Voltron says: Normally when a house goes into foreclosure, any second mortgage gets wiped out. There has been a lot of contention about what happens to a second mortgage when a mortgage gets modified. Wells Fargo has a huge exposure to home equity loans (second liens).

excerpt:

"BlackRock Inc. Chairman Laurence Fink said Obama administration programs to help homeowners stave off foreclosure may hinder the recovery of the mortgage market while benefiting banks that own second loans on the properties."

"Fink said policies introduced this year to reduce foreclosures are flawed because they don’t require home-equity loans to be wiped out before the mortgage is modified. Instead, in a break with the intentions of contracts, the second loan’s terms may also be revised, spreading the financial loss among lenders, he said."

"One concern is that many servicers, which handle billing and collection for mortgage owners, also hold home-equity loans that would lose all value in a foreclosure."

...aid for consumers whose debt is greater than the value of their homes is being blocked because other loan changes allow second mortgages to be kept “on the books of the financial institution as a performing asset”

“If you really want to protect the homeowner, wipe out the second lien, modify the first lien,” Fink said.

Full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.wV83iJI34k