Tuesday, February 12, 2008

President Bush Offers Project Life Line to Save Homes

Robinson conveyed Bank of America's support for Project Lifeline, which will target severely delinquent borrowers to encourage them to respond to their mortgage servicer and pursue loan modification options. Project Lifeline continues HOPE NOW's original focus and expands its outreach to severely delinquent mortgage and home equity borrowers.

"The foreclosure crisis is having a serious economic and social impact on communities across the United States," Robinson said. "Bank of America strongly supports this private enterprise initiative to build upon the efforts of HOPE NOW's previous success in preventing foreclosures. We want homeowners facing foreclosure to take the urgently required first step and reach out to their servicer, or housing counselor, and get started on a recovery plan. Project Lifeline represents a broad, national approach to looking at each homeowner's situation individually - making sure that we stop the clock on foreclosure long enough to complete the loan modification process in those cases where it's possible to do so."

In addition to Bank of America, Project Lifeline is supported directly by Citigroup, Countrywide, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo. All six servicers are part of the HOPE NOW Alliance, which includes 25 servicers across the nation.

The HOPE NOW alliance urges people who may be having difficulty paying their mortgage to call their servicer or the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline, 1.888.995.HOPE. The HOPE Hotline is provided by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation.

According to people familiar with the plans, Bloomberg reported that six lenders that include Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) will participate in a plan called Project Lifeline, which will offer a 30-day freeze on foreclosures "while loan modifications are considered" in order to help certain borrowers facing default stay in their homes.

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