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Jun 30, 2009 11:10 am US/Central
Protesters Demand Mortgage Help From Loan Firms
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 11 NEWS/AP) ―
Protesters in more than a dozen cities across the country, including Dallas, are demanding that a group of mortgage companies who benefited from federal bailout money participate in a government program designed to prevent foreclosures.
They say the companies should sign on to the Obama administration initiative called "Making Home Affordable." The administration estimates it could help up to 9 million financially troubled homeowners stay in their homes.
According to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), , there are four home mortgage servicers that are collectively responsible for the loans of two million American families, but have not signed up for the Obama plan. The companies are
Litton, owned by Goldman Sachs,
HomEq, owned by Barclays,
American Home Mortgage Servicing, and
OneWest.
In a press release sent out Tuesday, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said, "Every 13 seconds another American family loses its home in this never-ending crisis. Getting an affordable loan modification shouldn't be like winning the lottery."
Many of the companies in question have benefited from government bailout monies. Goldman Sachs, the parent company of Litton, received $10 billion in TARP and another $12 billion from the government's bailout of AIG. Barclays, owner of HomEq, is a British bank ineligible for TARP funds but still took more than $8 billion from US taxpayers through the AIG bailout. OneWest, what emerged from the wreckage of IndyMac, would not exist if not for the guarantees and subsidies from the FDIC and ultimately taxpayer backing.
Rally organizers say about 80 percent of eligible loan companies are already participating in Obama's Foreclosure Prevention Program.
The protests are scheduled Tuesday in 14 cities, including Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami. They're organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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