By now most of us have heard about that Barack Obama has proposed and passed the Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan which is designed to help 7 to 9 million American families with loan modifications.
According to the US Treasury Department, it is a $75 billion program to help up to nine million homeowners avoid foreclosure, but what happens if you don't qualify for Obama's Homeowner Affordability program? To qualify for the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Program: 1.
The home must be owner-occupied 2.
You must have a documented financial hardship 3.
Your home mortgage payment must be more than 31% of your monthly gross income 4.
Your loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac If you meet the aforementioned criteria, then you "should" qualify for the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Program.
If you don't then you should read on for some helpful tips and insight, beginning with TARP.
The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) as currently implemented places US tax dollars into the hands of bankers with very little government direction as to how to best utilize the funds.
In theory the TARP program is designed to create liquidity in the financial markets.
However, banks that received bailout money had paid their top executives nearly $1.
6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits in 2007.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships, and professional money management.
Obama's administration has promised to set a $500,000 cap on executive pay at companies that receive bailout money, but the proposal would also allow banks to give unlimited amounts of stock to these same executives.
Graef Crystal, a former compensation consultant and author of "The Crystal Report on Executive Compensation," claimed that the limits on executive pay were "a joke" and that "they're just allowing companies to defer compensation.
" It's glaringly obvious that these so-c alled bailout programs are heavily designed to help Wall Street instead of Main Street.
It is testimony more to the power of the financial industry's political connections than to its role in the economy.
Banks are important, yes.
But so are manufacturing firms and software companies.
When the Internet bubble popped, we did not send government aid to the technology industry, which has since recovered nicely following a shakeout.
Main Street might have preferred to have a choice about whether to bailout corporate America or the average American homeowner.
Instead, the choice is being made by politicians, who are gambling with other people's money to advance their own agendas.
The financial bailout isn't as bad as Main Street thinks.
It's worse.
The government just does a really good job of packaging it up and selling it to the American people.
The efforts of President Barack Obama to alleviate the foreclosure crisis won't help over 80% of U.
S.
struggling families in their efforts to stop foreclosure and save their homes.
I think it is important to recognize that the ultimate beneficiaries here are the banks.
Government officials overseeing the bailout have acknowledged difficulties in tracking the money and in measuring the bailout's effectiveness.
During 2008, the companies that received bailout money had spent $114 million on lobbying and campaign contributions.
These companies received $295 billion in bailout money.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of The Center for Responsive Politics, said of this information, "Even in the best economic times, you won't find an investment with a greater payoff than what these companies have been getting.
" By now is should be clear that the banks are not your friends.
They are a business and are looking out for their bottom line, not yours.
Banks are sneaky, although they are supposed to play by the rules and provide eligible homeowners a loan modification, that isn't always the case.
Very often they are "looking" for a reason to decline your loan modification request and once it's been declined it's an uphill battle to get an approval after that.
Even if you are one of the fortunate few who are able to get a loan modification agreement - be sure to read the fine print.
Many of these agreements have contingencies that void the agreement, such as being behind on your property taxes or having expired homeowner's insurance.
They know very well that most people who are behind on their mortgages are most likely also behind on their taxes and insurance.
The Obama Home Affordability and Stability Program is designed to help from 7 to 9 million homeowners.
If you are one of the millions of other homeowners who don't qualify under the Obama guidelines and need a little assistance then help is available.
Retaining an experienced real estate attorney to represent you and negotiate your loan modification is the best method to use when Obama's loan modification plan isn't working for you.
Using an attorney firm can allow you to stop an impending Notice of Sale or other foreclosure action.
Before you throw in the towel you should consider fighting for your rightful share of the economic stimulus package.
There are many options available for an experienced attorney to use to thwart an aggressive lender who is looking for foreclose on your property.