Foreclosures halted by loan lenders for holidays

Loan lenders are going to freeze foreclosure activity for the holidays, as is customary. Image: Brendel/WikiMedia Commons/CC-BY

Every year, most home loan lenders halt foreclosures through the holidays. This year, most mortgage lenders are halting foreclosure activity for Christmas, as it is customary to do so. It isn’t unusual, but a foreclosure freeze was already in effect for some lenders anyway.

Loan lenders customarily halt foreclosures

Typically, mortgage loan lenders halt all foreclosure activity from late December until after New Year’s Day, according to CNN. This year will be no exception. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have a freeze on foreclosing on any outstanding installment loans that either company lent or backed. Freddie and Fannie are still a long way from emerging from conservatorship, as both companies are still under the direct control of the Treasury, but auctioning a few homes would not help the troubled mortgage houses. Both are still suffering from the weight of toxic mortgages, regardless of how many emergency loans either company has received from the government.

Large lenders freezing foreclosures as well

The nation’s largest loan companies are freezing foreclosures for the holiday as well, as is the custom. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are all halting evictions from foreclosed properties where the people who were borrowing money lapsed on payments. However, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are both embroiled in the “robo-signing” controversy and cannot necessarily evict anyone to begin with. Both companies are accused of automatically signing off on foreclosures without having done the due diligence as to whether the action was legal.

Much needed reprieve

Currently, about 100,000 people lose their homes to foreclosure per month. Foreclosures have been a scourge of the real estate industry, but the bright side, if there is one, is that the rate hasn’t been accelerating lately. However, the key to fixing the real estate market is for unemployment to further decrease.