Released: October 08, 2008

IndyMac’s fast-track mortgage modification program

Source: Christopher Palmeri, Business Week (Free Registration)

When Mark Akers got an offer from his mortgage lender in September to slash his monthly payments down to $2,500, from $4,200, he jumped at the chance. The Norco (Calif.) resident ran into trouble earlier this year after his wife got sick and he lost his job managing a factory that made doors for houses.

The 53-year-old Akers could have become another foreclosure statistic if his bank, IndyMac, had not stepped forward to halve the interest rate on his fixed-rate loan to 3%, for a period of five years. In exchange, the bank will add Akers missed payments to the loan principal, hiking it to $611,000. Akers says he’s grateful. “Our neighbor across the street just lost his home,” he says. “I said to my wife: ‘We’ve got a house we’ll die in.’”

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