Testing a 'mortgage-to-lease' tool to fight foreclosure

If you're seriously underwater and headed to foreclosure, what would you say if the lender suddenly offered you the chance to remain in your home as a tenant for an extended period plus have your mortgage debt wiped away? Would you say yes?

Or would you instead conclude: Hey, why pay rent? It's going to take the bank more than a year to complete the foreclosure and evict us, so why not just stay put and save some money?

One of the country's largest banks is about to find out which choice significant numbers of distressed owners make in response to a new foreclosure-avoidance plan it calls "mortgage-to-lease." Bank of America is sending proposals later this month to upward of 1,000 customers in Arizona, New York and Nevada. If the reaction is positive, the program is likely to be expanded to other states, and could become a model for the biggest players in the mortgage market — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Here's how it works: The homeowners in the initial pilot tests all have been previously offered a variety of possible alternatives to foreclosure — loan modifications, forbearance on payments, short sales and "deeds-in-lieu," where the borrower hands the property title back to the bank and moves out. But they either have not been able to qualify or have not responded to the bank's proposals. They're now essentially at the end of the line — there are no other standard lender remedies available to keep them out of foreclosure. In fact, most lenders are now speeding up the pace of foreclosures to get heavy loads of defaulted mortgages off their books. Read More