Citi to Allow Jobless to Pay Less on Loans

[Pirate Smile]

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Citigroup Inc. will announce Tuesday a new program aimed at addressing the latest challenge facing the mortgage industry: unemployed homeowners.

Under the program, Citigroup will temporarily lower mortgage payments to an average of $500 a month for certain borrowers who have recently lost their jobs and are at least 60 days behind on their mortgage payments. Borrowers will be allowed to make the lower payments for three months. Citigroup will waive interest and penalties during this period.

Citigroup's announcement comes days before the Obama administration is expected to announce guidelines for its massive loan-modification program, a cornerstone of its effort to fight the housing crisis. The bank's new initiative takes aim at one of the hardest groups of borrowers to assist: those who have seen their income fall sharply.

"We expect that there will be thousands of people we can help," said Sanjiv Das, chief executive of CitiMortgage, who called rising unemployment "the single biggest issue facing mortgage servicers." Although the novel program will help just a small fraction of troubled borrowers, Mr. Das said he hopes it will be copied by others in the industry.

To qualify for the program, borrowers must live in the home and have a mortgage that is owned and serviced by CitiMortgage. The program applies only to loans of $417,500 or lower. Citigroup holds 1.4 million mortgages on its books. It also services another four million loans for others, but those don't qualify for the program.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604815369915983.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. well, aint that nice of them

touching, really

[leftstreet]

2. Interesting

Borrowers who qualify for the program typically spend an average of $1,500 a month on mortgage-related payments. The lower, $500-a-month payment was designed to make the mortgage a financially viable alternative to renting an apartment for borrowers struggling with temporary job loss, Mr. Das says

To qualify for the program, borrowers have to provide proof of unemployment. They must also sign a form promising that they will look for a job and let Citigroup know if they've found one.

[terisan]

3. Will tax our future to give them billions to save the butts of their billionaire investors

and they spend a couple of dollars on a diddly 3 month homeowner-help program.

Get Summers, Rubin and Geithner and their Harvard-trained economist/financier advisors out of the White House now. They are truly destructive, know nothing about American business and job creation, and will just saddle us with the debt of these bankrupt banks and insurers until we are forced to sell our water resources to privateers.

[earcandle]

6. ... the way of the beast, isn't it?

hey, you might be onto something. Actually that is scary. Maybe that is how they wrestle down small countries.
The water goes bad, the curfew goes on, and the military takes over. Didn't Bush give the military domestic duties
and corporations the right to bear arms? Am I dreaming? Maybe Obama reversed this one?

Anyway, I appreciate the visits from democratic underground to my sites.
The movies and music are homemade Americana. And free. So thanks for coming by.

Here is some more for you, appropriate for this topic.

Big Sky

our dub ditty featuring davis on sonic war.

Little Emperor

[DollyM]

4. Why doesn't Citi bank lower the cc interest rates too?

I am a good customer with a good line of credit, always pay on time, never go over and they raised my interest rate form 9 to almost 15 percent. Why am I being punished because other people aren't paying their credit cards like they should. I have been jobless for a long time, I have a small business that just brings in a tiny bit of money and I used the Citi bank cc to fund my business. Now I am just barely covering interest each month and not really getting anywhere with getting it paid down. Where is my help from Citi bank?

[earcandle]

7. Whoah, hold on.

You are not being punished because of the behavior of others,
because I, like you did nothing as well.  Everyone is getting
screwed by the banks, and there is no discrimination.  
Everyone, regardless of how good their credit, are getting
raised rates. Be careful not to direct your anger to others
worse off.  Keep focus on collecting on government services
paid by our tax dollars, or the criminal theft thereof,
methinks. 

[sarcasmo]

8. Dumped two HSBC cards that wouldn't lower my rates, not playing their games anymore.

[Alcibiades]

10. That's true

Furthermore, if you close your account with them, they will refinance your debt at 10%, but if you keep it open, they keep it at whatever usurious rate it's pegged at.

Crazy. No wonder they are broke.

[Mojorabbit]

19. It doesn't matter if you were a good customer or not

they raised my rate too and I have had the card for twenty years with a perfect payment record, a high credit score, and we have a very good income. They pretty much did it across the board according to the woman I spoke with. Save your anger for the banks not those less fortunate.

[regnaD kciN]

5. Bucket, meet drop...

:sarcasm:

[Jivenwail]

9. Citigroup can go straight to HELL

While I feel for all who are suffering in this horrid economy, I do have to put up my dukes when it comes to this failed bunch of greedy assholes called Citigroup. My husband and I just found out yesterday that they raised our interest rate on the Mastercard we hold from them...raised it 18% without so much as a nod and a wink. We've had that card for years, have paid on time and never late. So we called to demand that they put our lower rate back on the card, we were met with a nasty response that (and I DO QUOTE THIS BIMBO), "we can't do that. All interest rates were raised across the board due to the economy and you had until January 31 to accept or reject it". What? We never even knew they'd done that - - we weren't notified, no letter, nothing. So we asked again to have the lower rate put back on the card to which BIMBO responded (and again I QUOTE THIS BIMBO), "if you choose to reject the higher rate, we will AUTOMATICALLY CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT on the expiration date". WTF????? Yes, folks. Citigroup has determined that if you don't accept their higher interest rates on their credit cards, your account will be closed. Period. No discussion. We asked to speak to someone else, got the same load of BS. When we asked why we weren't notified, all she would say is that they have extended the deadline to accept or reject their terms and that was it. So there's your Citigroup. Bailout for who again???? Where's the justice in this crap? We have written to both our state senators (Warner and Webb) and basically told them to get off their dead asses and do something about oversight and fairness for we, the people. BTW...the last time I wrote to them regarding my concerns for the bailout mess, Warner did respond but got absolutely nothing from Webb. Your senators at work. As for Citigroup...there is a special place in hell waiting for you.

[Alcibiades]

12. Close your account

My wife called recently to make some arrangement while our loan consolidation goes through. They said the only thing they could do was to give her 10% if she closed her account. In other words, no break for you if you keep your account, but a steep discount if you promise to not do business any more with them.

Needless to say, we are closing the account. Raising rates on folks who want to remain your customers and offering discounts to folks for walking away: I take it as evidence that they are no longer really in the lending business.

[Jivenwail]

13. Thanks Alcibiades

Already done - we opted NOT to do business with them. Case closed. As a side note, I just saw a report on how some of these banks are now lowering customer's credit limits thus lowering their credit scores...and the "experts" stated that the banks CAN and WILL do this if it is in your contract and consumers need to read their contracts very carefully. Oh yeah? Screw the consumer and allow the banks, who created this mess in the first place, to run ramshod over everyone with absolutely no oversight and no accountability - and DO give them bailout after bailout. People's lives are being ruined due to no fault of their own. Expert advise was to write a letter to the 3 credit bureaus and explain how the lowering of your credit limit, or increase in your interest rates, were due to the bank's actions and not yours. These so called experts also said don't allow credit cards to linger with no action on them and to charge something at least every quarter and pay it off BUT don't close the account. And pay on time, don't pay one day late - set up automatic withdrawls if you have to. In other words, CYA consumers. CYA.

[Alcibiades]

14. Folks will learn to do without credit

We will have to, because all these bailouts will fail eventually. Consumer credit is a ripoff. We're all supposed to take part in this sham and do the things the wizards at the credit bureaus want to maximize our score, which we have to pay to get and which is calculated according to a secret, proprietary formula.

They are doing all this because the house of cards is collapsing. They are lowering credit limits because the only capital they have left is the bailout money, and they are hoarding that. Once depositors figure that out, how much longer before there's a run on these big banks and they collapse, taking the FDIC with them?

We need comprehensive monetary reform nearly as much as we need comprehensive healthcare reform. In the meantime, I'm going to sever all relationships and only do business with my credit union.
:hi:

[Hugin]

16. You can't even pay to get your score from Experian anymore.

As of the 13th of Feb... Love the lead time they gave on that one.

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Three months

How about as long as it takes Citi to pay back the taxpayers?

[Myrina]

18. 'how about since they got my tax money, they forgive some of my mortgage?

"I" - as a taxpayer - have already contributed money to them upfront, so why do I need to pay them again, in the form of my monthly mortgage payment?

:shrug:

[tonysam]

15. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

If you don't have a job, how the hell can you even begin to pay the lower rates?

[Myrina]

17. So if one signs up for THIS program ...

... does that preempt them from making any modifications or asking for further adjustments/relief once the Obama Mortgage Plan is implemented?

Is this Citi's attempt to lock people into a 90-day plan because they suspect something much more
far-reaching is heading down the pike?