FDIC: Cut mortgage payments for the jobless
WASHINGTON - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. urged banks that are sharing losses with the agency to temporarily reduce mortgage payments for unemployed borrowers as part of a broader effort to curb home foreclosures.
The banks, which bought failed lenders, should reduce the loan payment to “an affordable level’’ for at least six months for homeowners who are without a job or underemployed, the FDIC said yesterday in a statement released in Washington.
“This is a win-win for the borrower, who can remain in his or her home while looking for a new job, and the acquiring institution, which continues to receive payments on the loan,’’ FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair said in the statement.
Bair has been prodding US banks to help struggling borrowers avoid foreclosure and the recommendation is aimed at lenders that acquired failed institutions with an agreement to share any future losses with the FDIC.
