Do homeowners who lost it all in flawed foreclosures deserve a second chance?
The Feds have launched a massive review of homeowners who lost everything in foreclosures that may have been seriously flawed.
Banks last week began sending out an estimated 4.5 million letters to homeowners who were in some stage of the foreclosure process in 2009 and 2010, informing them they may be eligible to have their files reviewed.
These include victims of robo-signing, in which banks churned out foreclosure documents in assembly-line fashion without checking the accuracy.
Still, it's far from a blanket amnesty. The reviews are aimed at helping homeowners who were foreclosed on even though they had already been accepted by the bank into a mortgage modification program or had been shielded by the bankruptcy process. Homeowners hit with questionable fees during the foreclosure process may also have a case.
Hopefully it will also include the disturbingly large number of cases of servicemen and women who lost their homes to foreclosure while on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, but so far that's not clear from what I've read. I'll be making some calls on that one.
If someone was foreclosed on after being accepted into a mortgage modification program, that's a wrong that should be righted.
The same is true for someone who was under bankruptcy court protection or who was serving our country overseas.
If nothing else, forcing banks to slow down and follow proper procedures can be a protection for homeowners across the board, even those who could never imagine falling behind on their payments.
What's your take?
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