Some 500,000 homeowners with mortgages from Citigroup have a little more emotional insurance today. The fourth largest bank plans to modify $20 billion in mortgages to keep people from having to flee their homes; already they've helped prevent about 370,000 people from being foreclosed upon, reports Bloomberg; that's $35 billion in mortgages. The news comes amid reports that October foreclosures dropped dramatically, and for the second month in a row, to February's numbers, perhaps thanks to government and corporate shifts in policy and attitude. "Congress has been urging financial-services companies to work with borrowers after foreclosures rose to the highest on record in the third quarter," they write. "JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Oct. 31 it will stop foreclosure on some loans as it works to make payments easier on $110 billion of problem mortgages, while Bank of America Corp. said it has modified 226,000 loans this year, including those from Countrywide Financial Corp."
Citi Will Halt Some Foreclosures, Rework Mortgages [Bloomberg]
Citigroup Puts Moratorium on Foreclosures [AP]
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