Here are some Web links to e-mail your elected federal officials to support the All Streets bailout plan and to find information related to housing, mortgages, interst rates and economic trends
Support the All Streets Bailout Plan...copy the following message and e-mail it to your U.S. House Representative and U.S. Senators
[message begins here] "It is extremely urgent that you pass dramatic legislation to stop what has become a massive economic collapse, including the slide in housing values, the credit crunch, and an avalanche of foreclosures, bankruptcies and unemployment. The accumulating damage to individuals and businesses is generally irreversible and likely will result in a long economic depression unless you act quickly. The potential cost to taxpayers keeps increasing the longer you wait to stop the bleeding, including increased welfare costs, increased unemployment insurance, lost tax revenue, and the costs of insuring failed bank deposits, failed mortgages, and pension funds of bankrupt companies.
The most essential need is to directly relieve much of the excess individual mortgage debt so as to restore financial health to many mortgage consumers, mortgage lenders, and mortgage investors, and to stop the slide in housing values. The legislation also needs to stop the avalache of housing foreclosures to give the recovery plan time to work. It should also modify by fiat the remaining subprime ARMs, since the Hope Now Alliance has failed for two years to do that in sufficient numbers, and limit the terms of future subprime ARMs. Your recovery legislation needs to fairly benefit those who do not have a mortgage or don't own a residential property. It needs to be broad enough to work, fairly benefit all Americans, and simple enough to act quickly and not trickle down over a long period through a complicated, bureaucratic, piecemeal process like the Hope Now project or most previous legislative efforts.
To acomplish all of this I strongly support the All Streets Bailout Plan which includes Housing and Economic Recovery Certificates (HERCs) to enable individuals and lenders to convert a significant portion of excess mortgage debt to long-term, low-interest federal loans not secured by the properties, or to authorize low interest loans to individuals to relieve credit card debt, or to fund businesses or as personal unsecured loans, if they have no unduly burdensome debt to relieve. The plan also includes federal mandates to modify subprime ARMs and regulate the terms of such ARMs in the future, a foreclosure moratorium, and federal loans to state governments to help them weather the economic storm. A summary of the AllStreets Bailout Plan can be found on the Home page at www.themortgagenews.info. Details are also found at www.blog.themortgagenews.net. Please enact this plan or one very much like it as soon as possible. [message ends here]
e-mail your U.S. Senators (two in each state) U.S. Senators' Contact Information: Find your two U.S. Senators' contact information so you can e-mail them.
e-mail President Bush
White House Contact Information:This is the current contact site for President Bush. We don't know if it will continue to be the White House contact site when President-elect Obama takes office, so below is the contact information for him.
e-mail President-elect Obama
President-elect Obama:This is the current contact site for the transition team of President-elect Obama. To e-mail the transition team go to the Agenda/Economy menu and you'll find a large box to click to submit your ideas. We don't know whether this will continue to be his contact site after he takes office. At that time try visiting the transition site to get further information or try the above site for the White House, currently the site for President Bush, to see if it becomes the site for then President Obama.
Government Agencies Involved in Mortgages
Fannie Mae (FNMA): there are actually two sites for Fannie Mae. The one to the left is a consumer oriented site. The one used by lenders and other mortgage professionals is eFannieMae. There you can read the lending guidelines, periodic letters specifying policy changes, and a wealthof other informations used by lenders, mortgage servicers, realtors, and appraisers.
Freddie Mac (FHLMC): Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA): new federal agency as of October, 2008, createde to be conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, take over OFHEO and FHFB, and some functions of HUD, and perform new functions designated in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.
Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB): this board regulated the twelve regional Federal home Loan Banks that provide funding to lenders for mortgages, but has been merged into the new Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Reserve Board: conducts monetary policy and supervises the banking system; provides information about interest rates, particularly interest rate indices, used by many lenders as indexes for adjustable rate mortgages ("ARMs") (release H.15 especially)
Mortgage-X: a mortgage-related website that has a tremendous amount of data regarding interest rates, especially those used as indices for adjustable rate loans
Mortgage Quotes
Zillow: Their new mortgage section enables you to request a quote for your very specific loan scenario without divulging your identity or having your credit pulled (you report your middle credit score and that for any co-borrower). There's no cost or obligation.
Lending Tree: a popular site to request competing quotes for a mortgage
U.S. Federal Legislation
Thomas at Library of Congress: This is where you can look up legislation that has been introduced into Congress, either the House or Senate. It tells you the sponsor, co-sponsors, status of the bill and lets you look up a summary, different versions, and detailed text of the bill. Use the search box to find bills relating to your subject, such as mortgages, housing bailout, FHA, foreclosure, etc.
Zillow.com: Find the estimated value of your home and those around yours, or list yours for sale, or request actual quotes on a mortgage scenario.
Help for Mortgage Modifications
Hope Now Alliance: HOPE NOW is an alliance between HUD approved counseling agents, servicers, investors and other mortgage market participants that provides free foreclosure prevention assistance. (Editor's note: Hope Now doesn't modify any loans. Only individual lender or servicer agents can do that. Reviews of results of efforts by individuals to get their loans modified have been very mixed at best. The chances for a satisfactory outcome depend on the individual's circumstances as well as the inclinations of their lender.) You can also read the new Streamlined Modification Plan at the eFannieMae site (hint: their idea of "streamlined" is nothing like ours!).
Real Estate Sites
Zillow.com: Find the estimated value of your home and those around yours, or list yours for sale, or request actual quotes on a mortgage scenario.
