One Million Homeowners May Get Mortgage Writedowns

About one million American homeowners would get writedowns in the size of their mortgages under a proposed deal with banks over shady foreclosure practices, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday.

The deal, which could be struck within weeks, would mark the largest cut in the mortgage load since the start of the credit crisis.

"We're very close to a settlement that would both fix the servicing problems, but also help over a million families around the country stay in their homes and get help," Donovan said at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington.

Talks involving federal officials, state attorneys general and major banks to resolve allegations of "robo-signing" and other misconduct in foreclosures have dragged into their second year.

Donovan's announcement came the same day that two big regional U.S. banks disclosed they had set aside funds related to mortgage servicing matters, a sign that lenders beyond the five largest mortgage servicers may join the expected settlement.

In exchange for between $20 billion to $25 billion in relief to distressed homeowners, the banks — Bank of America [BAC 7.10 0.30 (+4.41%) ],Wells Fargo [WFC 30.09 -0.15 (-0.5%) ], JPMorgan Chase [JPM 36.81 0.27 (+0.74%) ], Citigroup [C 29.34 0.31 (+1.07%) ] and Ally Financial [GMSPZ 0.00 --- UNCH ] — will put behind them potential government lawsuits about improper foreclosures and abuses in originating and servicing the loans.

Using Donovan's estimate, the settlement could provide roughly a $20,000 reduction each for the one million borrowers.

Prior administration efforts to jumpstart the housing recovery have fallen short of how they were promoted. Some states, including California and New York, have criticized negotiators as being too lenient on the banks and suggested the proposed settlement would not provide enough relief to the housing market.

The Obama administration has seen the broader foreclosure settlement as an opportunity to help reach more borrowers struggling financially as the five-year collapse in home prices persists.

Currently, banks have granted at-risk borrowers principal reductions on a limited basis.

"Principal reduction can have a substantial impact on the housing market nationally," Donovan said.

With more than a 30-percent decline in home prices since 2007 and a huge number of vacant, foreclosed homes flooding the market, the housing sector has struggled to rebuild itself. About 22 percent of U.S. homes have negative equity totaling about $750 billion, according to CoreLogic.

Donovan said the deal would be "far and away the largest principal reduction of the crisis" and a number families would also "get direct compensation as a result of the settlement."

Limited Impact

Any settlement would not apply to mortgages owned by Fannie Mae [FNMA 0.237 -0.0015 (-0.63%) ]or Freddie Mac [FMCC 0.254 0.006 (+2.42%) ], which together own or guarantee most of the U.S. mortgage market.

The regulator that controls the two government-sponsored enterprises has resisted cutting their loans, arguing it would cost U.S. taxpayers more money than other options would.

But lawmakers and top administration officials have pushed for a broader principal reduction program, and this settlement could lay the groundwork for that if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are swayed to test it out themselves as an alternative to the costly process of foreclosing on struggling borrowers.

Earlier Wednesday, House Democrats sought to force the housing regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to explain its calculations in deciding not to offer principal reductions.

In addition, the Federal Reserve said in a rare 26-page white paper delivered to Congress this month that lawmakers need to do more to stabilize the housing market.

But it stopped short of endorsing any plans to have Fannie and Freddie slash borrowers' loan balances.

Obama Strategy

The Obama administration in coming weeks will step up its efforts to help the ailing housing market by expanding current policies aimed at helping communities plagued by high unemployment and widespread foreclosures, the housing secretary said.

"You will hear a president who is going to be aggressive on housing, on the issues of refinancing and principal writedown," Donovan said.

The White House will lay out a strategy that includes pilot programs to test new initiatives, such as a government plan to convert foreclosures into rentals.

Donovan said the White House is aiming to get more creative in how it contends with the excess inventory of unsold foreclosed homes on the books of government-run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Regulators have been seeking ways to reduce the number of foreclosed properties by pooling them together for bulk sales to investors. The goal is for investors to then rent them out.

The administration also wants to move ahead with a plan dubbed "Project Rebuild," which is a piece of Obama's American Jobs Act that aims to get construction workers to rehabilitate vacant properties.

Donovan said the $15 billion neighborhood stabilization program would create 200,000 jobs and be used to renovate thousands of vacant homes and properties around the country.

MSNBC