What is the help from the federal government?
Under the Making Homes Affordable (MHA) program, the U.S. government has sought to encourage lenders to offer alternatives to foreclosure as a way to help stabilize housing markets. This resulted in the HAMP program (Home Affordable Modification Program) to be followed soon (April, 2010) by the HAFA program (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives). Under HAFA, the U.S. government has set aside 10 billion dollars to provide cash incentive payments to lenders who make and follow through on mortgage modifications, particularly for homes in markets where home prices are declining. None of these programs makes participation mandatory however.
