Are you delinquent on your first mortgage but still making monthly payments on your home equity credit line or second mortgage? If so, a finance and real estate professor from DePaul University has some controversial advice for you: Stop paying on your second immediately. Rebel Cole believes you are simply throwing good money after bad. If you are seriously delinquent on the first mortgage, you’re likely headed for foreclosure unless both of your lenders agree on a modification or principal reduction plan. But since you continue to make payments on the second, the bank that holds that revenue-producing note may have minimal motivation to participate in a workout, he believes. Cole estimates that between 1 million and 3 million homeowners are in this position nationwide – so it’s a big problem.
Banks dispute strategy to force a quicker mortgage modification
September 24, 2010, 11:09am
Jacob Gaffney is formerly Editor-in-Chief of HousingWire and HousingWire.com. He previously covered securitization for Reuters and Source Media in London before returning to the United States in 2009. While in Europe for nearly a decade, he covered bank loans and the high yield market, in addition to commercial paper, student loan, auto and credit card space(s).see full bio
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Jacob Gaffney is formerly Editor-in-Chief of HousingWire and HousingWire.com. He previously covered securitization for Reuters and Source Media in London before returning to the United States in 2009. While in Europe for nearly a decade, he covered bank loans and the high yield market, in addition to commercial paper, student loan, auto and credit card space(s).see full bio