Diane Thompson, Land of Lincoln Lawyer, quoted in NY Times on Subprime Lending

Diane Thompson, has been in demand recently as the issue of subprime lending rises. She was quoted in this article from the NY Times. I’ve clipped out the excerpt below, but you can follow the link on the red text to read the entire article.–JGR

For Some Subprime Borrowers, Few Good Choices
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: March 22, 2007

But housing counselors and lawyers who have worked on behalf of borrowers say their experience suggests that is not yet happening.

They say that many servicers are unwilling to discuss modifications until loans are at least three months past due, a point when many borrowers are in deep financial trouble. Also, servicers are often unwilling or unable to make big enough changes to account for inflated appraisals and income levels that were used in underwriting the loans.

“Some of them take hundreds and hundreds of hours” of work and negotiations, said Diane Thompson, a lawyer at the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in East St. Louis, Ill. “It seems to me that is a terrible waste of our resources. It would be much better if the bad loans were never made, and if they were made, we would get people to accept responsibility for them.”