Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Countrywide Mortgage Foreclosures Are Up - What This Means To You


Countrywide Mortgage foreclosures are up. As of February 2007, the company reports that foreclosures have doubled from this same time a year ago. They attribute the rise to more lenders tightening the requirements for their loans and the appreciation of homes becoming sluggish.

Subprime lenders, who loan people with challenged credit money to buy a home, have begun shutting down. Either filing for bankruptcy or shutting the business down, some 30 lenders are no longer in business. Meanwhile Countrywide has added over 1200 new jobs this year. Their loans in process, which many mortgage companies are declining to honor, have increased 8 percent and mortgage lending for the first quarter have increased 9 percent.

Countrywide began in 1969 as the brainchild of two New Yorkers who decided to start their own mortgage company. At first, it was called Countrywide Funding Corporation. When the founders decided to make the move to California due to the booming real estate market there, they funded VA and FHA loans.

Countrywide has several options that need to be examined before actually having to end up in foreclosure status. The sooner you contact whoever may be your mortgage holder, the better the chances of being able to catch up your payments and keep your home.

Countrywide has a forbearance option. If you have a death in the family or someone loses their job, gets sick, or any other life circumstance that keeps you from being able to make your monthly mortgage payments, talk to your mortgage company. Forbearance is an option that can suspend payments or lower them until you recover from the setback you are experiencing.

Restructuring the loan is another option offered by Countrywide. It can be temporary or permanent. By lowering the payment of the loan to make it more affordable, you can keep up your payments and avoid the risk of losing your home. The typical way of doing this is by extending the life of the loan. By spreading the payments out for a longer period, you have smaller payments to make which can help you recover from a major financial problem.

Refinancing the loan is also a plan offered by Countrywide to help their customers have a more affordable payment. This can be a lifesaver for someone who has lost a second income that was counted on to help make the mortgage payments.

Another way of keeping your home from being foreclosed on is to reach an agreement with your loan company on what to do about missed payments. By spreading out payments on the amount you are behind to make an affordable plan for repayment you can catch up. However, you must still make the normal payments on your loan.

Countrywide Mortgage foreclosure can be avoided if you do not let things go too long. Talk to them right away if you are getting behind on your payments. Together you can come up with a plan to get you back on track and keep your home.

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