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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., Ally Financial Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are seeing the light now paying big bucks to Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosure, with a Short Sale…

Recently, BoA sent out letters to over 19,000 Florida homeowners as part of a pilot program. The program is offering incentives of as much as $20,000, or 5 percent of the unpaid loan balance, BoA spokesperson, said in an e-mail. The program expired in December and the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank hasn’t decided whether to introduce it in other states, she said. About 15 percent of the homeowners agreed to participate in the program, she said. 

It seems that the size of the payment may have little or nothing to do with sales price. JPMorgan gave one Phoenix homeowner $20,000
after she sold her property in June for $32,000, according to thee real estate agent who represented the seller and shared a copy of the settlement sheet with News agency. The bank also agreed to forgive more than $70,000 in debt, she said.

It appears that the robo-signing scandal is pushing banks to look closer at the short sale being a better alternative to foreclosures.  Banks have decided the short sales are faster and less costly than foreclosures, which have slowed in response to regulatory probes of abusive practices like robo-signing scandal. Banks are nudging potential sellers by pre-approving deals, streamlining the closing process, forgoing their right to pursue unpaid debt and in some cases providing large cash incentives.

We are looking into the where and hows...