From the MORNING STAR this Veterans Related story headline article:
A VA program helped thousands of struggling veterans keep their homes. Trump is ending it.
One Vet like Bob Johnson said: "You're going to have a lot of veterans who are going to be on the street."
BACKGROUND: A year and half after Robert Johnson bought his four-bedroom home in Texas in 2022, he lost his job. The 49-year-old military veteran and father of four was in a senior management role at a technology company until February 2024.
Finding another role at the same level and pay was tough. At first, he was able to make his mortgage payments.
But after seven or eight months, when his severance package ran out, he couldn't do it anymore. Johnson asked his mortgage servicer for a three-month forbearance while he was looking for a job. He eventually found another role, but with less pay, he had to find a way to make his monthly payments a lot more manageable.
Luckily, he found one through the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) loan program, signed into law and implemented by President Joe Biden.
It offer VA mortgage holders a last-resort option to avoid losing their homes. Since May 31 of last year, the Veterans Affairs has helped more than 17,000 struggling veterans with their mortgages by buying up their loans through the special foreclosure-prevention program.
For Robert Johnson, the program has been a lifeline. Having his mortgage rate lowered from 5.5% to 2.5% will save him $1,500 a month, he told MarketWatch in an interview last month.
He said: "If VASP were eliminated, you're going to have a lot of veterans who are going to be living on the streets."
VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said: "The program will stop accepting new enrollees on May 1. VASP "was unilaterally created by the Biden administration and lacks congressional authority. This change is necessary because VA is not set up or intended to be a mortgage-loan restructuring service. The end of VASP will not impact any homeowners currently on the program or those who enroll in it before May 1."
The announcement comes at a time when tens of thousands of veterans across the U.S. continue to struggle with their mortgage payments.
Many with VA-backed loans have missed multiple payments and are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure, according to recent data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Foreclosure starts, which refer to the start of the foreclosure process, were up 34% in February compared with the same month a year earlier, according to ICE, stemming in part from defaults on VA-backed mortgages.
Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association said: "Against this backdrop, halting the VASP program will increase the number of veterans facing foreclosure unless the VA and Congress implement a permanent partial-claim option as soon as possible."
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My 2 Cents: Key points: Republican lawmakers who had sought to end VASP called its shuttering the "Right move by VA Secretary Doug Collins and the Trump administration to protect the integrity of the VA home-loan program."
This program was implemented by President Biden and that is why Trump hates it.
The program offers VA mortgage holders a last-resort option to avoid losing their homes. Since May 31 of last year, the VA has helped more than 17,000 struggling veterans with their mortgages by buying up their loans through this foreclosure-prevention program.
For Vets like Bob Johnson, the program has been a lifeline. Having his mortgage rate lowered from 5.5% to 2.5% will save him $1,500 a month.
Retribution from Trump at play bigtime is the name of this game.
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