Are banks helping consumers more than the Fed?

There were days when the consumers were complaining that the banks are thinking only about themselves and that the problem of the consumers are increasing day after day, because the banks are going for foreclosures after foreclosures. This led to a problematic situation and it was going nowhere. Only a tide of problems for the consumers and the housing market came down heavily!

A recent data shows that things have changed. Banks are now helping the consumers more than the Obama Administration. For the delinquent clients, it is good news that the banks are now giving loan modification programs to the consumers after the HAMP's failure. HAMP is the signature relief program from the Federal government which aimed at giving home mortgage modifications to the consumers. HAMP stands for Home Affordable Modification Program.

However, there is a small little glitch, which is a problem for the consumers. The consumers are advised to take a closer look at the terms and conditions laid down by the banks' modification programs. Experts believe that the modification programs by the banks may not be as good as HAMP, because of the fact that the HAMP actually lowered the monthly payments that the consumers had to bear to as low as 31% of the income before tax.

Initially, the banks only tacked on the payments which were missed and this left the consumers in deeper troubles. The banks were reluctant to take enough steps to help the consumers when the mortgage crisis actually began and went out of control in 2007. Recently however, the banks are doing a good job to stop the crisis of foreclosure.

A recent data released shows that the 644,000 consumers received permanent home mortgage modifications from the banks where as HAMP succeeded in giving such modifications to 332,000 consumers. The Fed statistics show that about half of the troubled consumers who fail to get modifications through HAMP are given modifications under the in-house programs of the banks.

No matter what, there is still a long way to go as there are still millions of people facing foreclosure problems, because of the acute unemployment faced by the country. Thousands and thousands of properties are still put on market by the banks at discounted prices and the homebuyers who are looking for the preoccupied properties are in a good position as they can get good properties at lowered prices leading to a considerable savings. Chances are there that once they grab a property now, they will develop equity in their properties over time when the US economy gets back on its feet.

For the latest news on foreclosures and to get the most updated foreclosure listings all over the country, visit ForeclosureDataBank.com. You will get the most comprehensive list of the preoccupied properties.