WASHINGTON, DC – After the Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today requested details on loan modification programs from executives who testified. The questions were specifically directed towards Mr. Jon Campbell, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Region, Wells Fargo Bank; Ms. Anne Finucane, Global Corporate Affairs Executive, Bank of America; Mr. Barry L. Zubrow, Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer, JPMorgan Chase; and Mr. Gregory Palm, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
“Each of the witnesses who testified at the hearing last week either supported FDIC Chairman Bair’s proposal for systematic loan modifications, or expressed optimism that it could be effective,” said Senator Casey. “Meanwhile, the Treasury backtracked from serious foreclosure prevention measures being considered by announcing a plan that will do little to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. Until the Treasury is willing to be as diligent about helping homeowners as it is about helping Wall Street, the economic crisis will continue because housing prices will not stabilize.”
The following are the questions for the record:
All four of your testimonies mentioned the efforts your financial institutions are making to systematically modify mortgage loans to prevent foreclosures and keep homeowners in their homes. Several of the witnesses, with the exception of Mr. Campbell, supplied estimates of how many mortgage owners have been helped or are projected to be helped through these loan modification programs. I ask that each of the witnesses provide more details on these calculations, specifically:
Which homeowners are eligible for the institution’s loan modification program?
How is success through the program defined? What does it mean that a certain number of homeowners have been “helped” through a loan modification program?
If your program has already been implemented, how have you calculated the number of homeowners assisted through the programs?
If you have more than one loan modification program for distressed borrowers, please provide details on each.
How many homeowners do you project will be assisted through your institution’s loan modification programs, and what information do you use to arrive at that calculation?
Please also provide samples of the records and documentation you maintain regarding loans that are modified through your institution’s loan modification programs, with appropriate redactions to protect confidential information.
In over a decade of serving in state and federal government, I have learned that even the best consumer programs are useless if those they target for assistance do not know they exist. Please describe in detail the outreach efforts you have made to distressed homeowners to inform them of their new options for loan modification under the programs you administer. Specifically, what additional measures have you taken since the implementation of the program?
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