4 HAMODIA
For the Most Part, Federal
Mortagage Assistance Falters
BY HAMODIA STAFF
NEW YORK – The federal pro-
gram aimed at stemming the
country's foreclosure plague
has helped many less home-
owners than anticipated, a Wall
Street Journal analysis of
Treasury Department data has
concluded.
Since the inception of the
Obama Administration’s mort-
gage assistance program in
2009, only a quarter of appli-
cants have seen mortgage pay-
ment reductions.
The Home Affordable
Modification Program (HAMP)
was designed to lower interest
rates and lengthen loan terms.
HAMP’s stringent eligibility
rules, however, blocked out
many seeking relief, and many
who were eligible were met
with a steel wall of bureaucracy.
HAMP pays over 100 mort-
gage servicers for granting loan
modifications, though the pro-
gram’s criteria are tougher than
those of financial institutions.
After entry into the program,
homeowners undergo a trial
period of at least three months.
Of the 2.7 million applicants,
about half were turned down at
the outset. The most common
reason for rejection, affecting
around 266,000 applicants, was
failure to submit paperwork,
which many times was due to
banks losing or claiming they
never received documents that
were given over.
Another 255,000 were
deemed to already have afford-
able mortgages, meaning
monthly payments do not
exceed 31 percent of pretax
income.
Nissim Balassiano, owner of
Angels of Debt, a Brooklyn-
based company that mediates
with creditors on behalf of peo-
ple in debt, said the HAMP pro-
gram has been plagued by
glitches resulting from the gov-
ernment’s failure to prepare
banks for the demands created
by the program.
“The banks can’t handle all
the applications. They’re not
trained for it and they’re not
geared for it. They’re over-
whelmed,” Mr. Balassiano, a
member of the Jewish commu-
nity, told Hamodia. “Many
times you’re put on hold. It’s
hard to talk to anyone. They
take so long to approve it.”
The application process is
wearisome, with banks asking
repeatedly for the same infor-
mation over nine months to a
year.
“They’re trying to filter out
applications. That, combined
with the volume and the lack of
experience, results in a low per-
centage of applications being
approved,” Mr. Balassiano
commented.
Two Hamodia employees
who applied for HAMP assis-
tance at different banks said
the institutions flooded them
25 ADAR I 5771 TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 Breaking News
He Got Headaches,
Not Federal Mortgage Help
BORO PARK - For many, applying to the federal program meant to
alleviate the mortgage burden of financially struggling families Professor Gershon Ben-Shakhar and Rabbi Aron Nezri meeting in the former's
unleashes a torrent of headaches. Hebrew University office in January.
“It was a full year of agony,” a Boro Park man told Hamodia.
He was turned down, but not before being made to feel like his Closing Appeal Process
local bank branch was more a torture chamber than a financial insti- Continued from page 1 the pivotal issue, with the prosecu-
tution. scientific improbabilities and out- tor, Tadao Ogawa, and defense
The man did not want to be identified by name. While he and his right deceptions in Ms. Suzuki’s attorney Takashi Takano arguing
wife have jobs and middle-class incomes, they have eight children testimony. He attended yester- if “vague knowledge” of a crime
and had been paying a mortgage for four years. Expenses for such a day’s hearing in order to guide the would invalidate the polygraph.
large family are high, and they had hoped the Home Modification defense on how to counter Ms. The defense said that there was no
Affordability Program, initiated by the Obama Administration, Suzuki’s arguments and to make it scientific research backing up the
would grant some financial breathing room. They applied nearly harder for her to discredit his dep- difference between “clear knowl-
two years ago. osition. edge” and “vague knowledge.”
Per HAMP rules, required documentation had to be submitted to The hearing began in the Ms. Suzuki submitted a report
the bank via fax. Requests for information — which came frequently Tokyo district court at 1:30 p.m., shortly after the test was conduct-
— often involved 60 pages or so, such as multiple years of tax returns, with Ms. Suzuki making herself ed in 2008, asserting that the boys
bank statements, mortgage statements or pay stubs. available for questioning by the had no knowledge of what was in
After each submission, the man tried to get verification that the prosecution for an hour and a half. their valises. She later amended
information reached its destination. Numerous calls over more than She then submitted herself to a that orally, claiming that the test
a week typically led to claims that the information was nowhere to cross-examination by the defense does not disprove that they may
be found. and judges for the remainder of have had vague knowledge.
“Dealing with the bank was a total disaster. On every phone call, the four-and-a-half hours. Mr. Ben-Shakhar will now be
just to get in touch with the proper representative took between 15 Yesterday ’s Please daven for
given two weeks
and 45 minutes, after which many times you got disconnected and hearing marked to refute in writ-
Yoel Zev ben Mirel Risa Chava
had to start again,” the man recounted. the end of the ing Ms. Suzuki’s
and Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel
The end of the tunnel brought neither light nor sense. saga that began testimony, with a
After finally getting verification that all documents were on April 3, 2008, when Yaakov back-and-forth between the two
received, he heard nothing for three months. When he called, he was Yosef Grunwald, Yoel Zev possible as long as it is in writing
told his case was closed. After causing various delays, the bank told Goldsteyn and Yossi Bando were and is over by March 28. The final
him the documentation he sent was outdated. arrested in a Japanese airport verdict is scheduled for a month
“They never requested updated documents,” the man said with $3.6 million of illegal drugs later.
through clenched teeth. in a false bottom of their suitcases. While Yoel Zev’s judge refused
In addition, the bank said his household income was higher than They explained they were fooled to allow Mr. Ben-Shakhar to testi-
the program’s eligibility limit, which he calls “ridiculous.” by a respected member of their fy in his separate trial, Chiba
“They do not take into account family size, tuition payments and community in Bnei Brak, who is District Court Judge Masanori
food payments. Considering my family size, after expenses I should currently serving in an Israeli Hadoko said he would delay the
have been a perfect candidate,” he lamented. prison for his hand in the matter. trial’s conclusion until this issue
“The system was set up not to work.” Yossi was convicted and sen- plays itself out in Yaakov Yosef’s
tenced to five years, which he case. Yoel Zev’s trial was complet-
served in an Israeli prison until ed in October, but closing argu-
Israeli President Shimon Peres ments were pushed off as the
commuted his judgment last defense argued this polygraph
with requests for documenta- lion. But the many rejections month. Yaakov Yosef’s conviction point.
tion, then didn’t provide con- has led to only $1 billion being for negligence and six-year sen- The lawyers for Yoel Zev
firmation that it was received dished out so far. tence is the subject of the appeal. attended yesterday’s hearing in
or notification of what else was The low approval ratio has The polygraph has turned into the visitor’s gallery.
needed. Numerous attempts to incited criticism, even from the
find out would yield the official in charge of the progam.
response that nothing was Neil Barofsky, the special
received, triggering another
chain of phone calls and faxes.
inspector general overseeing
HAMP, accuses the
Last U.S. Veteran of WWI Dies
According to Mr. Balassiano, Administration of poor plan- Continued from page 1
the widespread delays in pro- ning and lack of guidelines. over again, “without a doubt.”
cessing on the part of the banks House Republicans may seek to On Nov. 11, 2008, the 90th
often caused deadlines to pass, kill the program through legis- anniversary of the end of the war,
triggering case closures — an lation. Buckles attended a ceremony at
especially frustrating phenom- But Treasury spokeswoman the grave of World War I Gen.
enon. Andrea Risotto told WSJ that John Pershing in Arlington
Aside from initial rejections, HAMP helped establish stan- National Cemetery.
a staggering 770,000 home- dards in the loan servicing He was back in Washington a
owners got HAMP status but industry and sparked more pri- year later to endorse a proposal to
lost it, with the most common vate modifications. rededicate the existing World War
reasons being, again, unmet Mr. Balassiano, who has I memorial on the National Mall
paperwork and eligibility crite- many years’ experience in help- as the official National World War
ria. A small number of those ing people deal with mortgage I Memorial. He told a Senate
who made it into the program problems and other debt issues, panel it was “an excellent idea.”
were bounced for nonpayment said that despite the obstacles, The memorial was originally built
during the trial period. the HAMP program is justified. to honor District of Columbia’s
Borrowers who have loans “Something had to be done. war dead.
for more than $730,000 or are Given limited options, this is Born in Missouri in 1901 and
not at risk of defaulting were the best thing that could have raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visit-
FILE REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
also rejected. been done for a homeowner. ed a string of military recruiters Frank Buckles, then 107, a U.S. veter-
As of December, the WSJ Overall, the program is getting after the United States entered an of World War I combat in France,
reports, about 680,000 home- better,” he said. Yet, “the whole the “war to end all wars” in April signs a World War I era ambulance
owners had active HAMP sta- recipe needs to be improved. It 1917. He was repeatedly rejected corps helmet after receiving the
tus. still needs a higher level of before convincing an Army cap- Legion of Honor at the French
The White House had put training and a more efficient tain he was 18. He was actually six- Embassy in Washington on October
HAMP’s cost at up to $75 bil- way of processing documents.” teen and a half. 7, 2008.