For those who follow the progress of the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, it is possible to use unemployment insurance payments to qualify for a loan modification. Good Idea? It will certainly allow some borrowers to complete a modification and perhaps to keep up with that modification until those unemployment payments run [...]

Rising unemployment is complicating the Obama administration’s effort to reduce foreclosures and stabilize the housing market.
The first wave of mortgage delinquencies was sparked by borrowers who took out subprime mortgages and other risky loans that became unaffordable, causing them to fall behind on their monthly payments. But the current wave is increasingly driven by unemployment [...]

From the A.P.
South Carolina’s highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages.
The injunction — which mortgage experts said appeared to be the nation’s first court-ordered stop for an entire state — [...]

Government-controlled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Friday they have immediately suspended all foreclosure sales involving occupied single-family and 2-4 unit properties through March 6, to give troubled borrowers more time to work with loan servicers to avoid losing their homes.
From the AP
Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and J.P. [...]