For all of the administration hype, I’ve found it hard to get details on the President’s negotiated plan with the mortgage industry to prevent foreclosures. I’ve found a link to the plan.

Elizabeth Warren, Harvard law professor and bankruptcy expert, isn’t impressed. She calls it the Sandbag Plan . I find her conclusion, that the plan was put forth only to derail the pending bill to empower bankruptcy judges to address loan modifications, absolutely plausible.

In my practice I see no evidence that the lenders are interested in voluntarily modifying these loans. My letters on behalf of clients don’t even get a response. My clients seem to have no feasible option but to walk away from exploding ARMS. I’ve likened it to working in a financial emergency room.
I’m rooting for the passage of legislation like Senator Durbin’s bill, S. 2136, which would remove the bar to altering a mortgage secured only by the debtor’s principal residence in a bankruptcy proceeding. Hearings on the bill were held this week and the prepared statements of the witnesses are available.