PROVIDENCE – Citizens Financial Group Inc. (CFG) has joined the roster of major banks that are putting a temporary stop to home mortgage foreclosures.
Providence-based CFG, the parent of Citizens Bank, yesterday announced it has placed “a temporary [foreclosure] moratorium on Citizens-owned mortgages on owner-occupied residences of the customer and on mortgage loans serviced by CFG for which understandings with investors have been reached.”
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
The moratorium will remain in effect until March 12. Citizens Bank is by far the largest bank operating in Rhode Island in terms of deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The bank made its announcement before President Barack Obama unveiled his $75 billion plan to stem home foreclosures nationwide. (Details of that plan – which expands the role of government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and aims to provide relief to both bankers and homeowners – are available at www.WhiteHouse.gov.)
Meanwhile, the regional Webster Financial Corp. (NYSE: WBS) announced today that it is extending its own moratorium, first put in place in November, until March 31. The Waterbury, Conn.-based company is the parent of Webster Bank, which operates more than 180 branches, including 10 in Rhode Island. (READ MORE)
Webster said it already has modified — or is in the process of modifying — mortgages with a total of more than $27 million in outstanding balances. The bank that represents about 53 percent of the mortgages that were eligible for the initial foreclosure hold.
The extension will apply to qualified borrowers who are more than 30 days delinquent as of Feb. 13, Webster said.
And this week, Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and its newly acquired National City Bank announced they are holding off on new and pending foreclosures through March 13.
Other banking giants – including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) and Hope Now Alliance founding members Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) – already have moratoriums in effect. B of A and JPMorgan have said their moratoriums will run through March 6. Citigroup’s hold is scheduled to end March 12, and Wells Fargo’s is set to remain until March 13.
In letters yesterday, U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin (D-R.I.) urged mortgage lenders active in Rhode Island mortgage lenders to suspend new foreclosure actions while Congress and the Obama administration finalize their anti-foreclosure plans.
“I strongly believe that action must be taken to temporarily suspend and prevent foreclosures so that our state and our country’s economy can begin to recover,” Langevin wrote. “In appealing to our state’s lenders, I am hopeful that this temporary suspension will ease the burdens and pressures that these foreclosures place on families and neighborhoods.”
Citizens Financial Group Inc. – a division of the Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LSE, NYSE: RBS) – is a commercial bank holding company with two bank subsidiaries, RBS Citizens N.A. (parent of Citizens Bank, Rhode Island) and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Citizens Financial and its subsidiaries operate 1,600 branches in 13 states, under the Citizens Bank and Charter One brands, plus non-branch offices in about 40 states. They have about 25,000 employees nationwide. Additional information is available at CitizensBank.com or www.rbs.com.
