Winners and losers in Bush mortgage plan -- which one are you?

Now that the details are available, there are clear winners and losers in the mortgage bailout plan negotiated by the Bush administration. Just to be sure this is clear -- the plan does not involve a taxpayer bailout. It's a negotiated agreement worked out with mortgage servicers and investors and does not involve using taxpayer money.

The agreement lumps the approximately two million people whose subprime ARMs are due to reset to higher interest rates into three groups. About 600,000 of them are expected to lose their homes to foreclosure, 600,000 are expected to refinance or pay the higher rates and about 600,000 will be able to freeze their rates. In order to get any help the home must be owner-occupied.

The group that will lose their homes to foreclosure are people who have been 60 days late with more than one payment in the last year. These folks will be assisted with the process of foreclosure by credit counselors. If you fall into this group, you may want to contact an attorney. Judges have denied foreclosures to banks because they can't prove they actually hold the note. If your mortgage was sold a few times after closing then your current mortgage servicer may not have the original paperwork needed to prove ownership of the note and the banks seem to be having a hard time sorting all this out.