Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices: 6.7.5.2 Role of HAMP Guidelines
The irresponsible mortgage lending in the early years of the 21st century left many homeowners with unsustainable mortgage obligations and led them to seek modifications of their mortgage loans to avoid foreclosure. The federal government responded by creating several programs to encourage loan modifications, and many lenders created internal programs to offer homeowners workouts or other options to avoid foreclosure. Unfortunately, broken promises, misinformation, lack of follow-through, and other missteps characterized mortgage servicers’ implementation of these options.