Seen at the Washington Post:
Mortgage lenders hunting for delinquent homeowners who have dodged their phone calls and letters are employing aggressive new methods to track them down, potentially making every knock on the door or fancy envelope seem like part of the pursuit. Even wedding invitations are suspect.
The idea, they say, isn’t to twist arms. Instead, it’s to avoid foreclosures, which have cost the mortgage industry billions of dollars in the past year.
Ocwen Financial is negotiating a deal with HomeFree-USA, a nonprofit group, to go door to door in the Washington area to strike deals with elusive borrowers. Fannie Mae is offering foreclosure lawyers up to $600 to help find solutions for these homeowners. Wells Fargo is disguising its letters in different colored envelopes, including some resembling wedding invitations.
Of course, the story also deals with some of the unfortunate aspects of the dunning side of the credit industry—getting lost in phone-menu hell, repetitive calls from bill collectors. But at least there are some signs that lenders are realizing there might be more effective ways to address problems in their mortgage portfolios.