Treasury to Cut Foreclosure Relief Paperwork

The Treasury Department is announcing a plan Thursday to reduce the burdensome paperwork surrounding the foreclosure relief plan.

Two changes expected to make a big difference are:

1. Lenders will be required to collect two pay stubs at the start of the process.
2. Borrowers will be required to give the Internal Revenue Service permission to provide their most recent tax returns.

Participating mortgage service companies will be required to acknowledge that they have received a borrower’s application within 10 days and approve or deny the application within 30 days. Borrowers will still be required to make three months of trial payments before the modification is made permanent.

Treasury officials are also reportedly devising a plan to give unemployed borrowers a break on payments – probably for six months – but because the details aren’t decided, the announcement won’t be made this week.

Source: Associated Press, Alan Zibel (01/27/2010)