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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Citi Expands Effort To Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure

Robert Daniel

MarketWatch Pulse

TEL AVIV -- Citigroup, the New York financial-services major, extended its effort to avoid foreclosing on homes. The bank on Tuesday announced the Citi Homeowner Assistance program, under which it would preemptively contact some 500,000 mortgage holders -- involving $20 billion of mortgage balances -- to try to ensure that they can pay their loans and stay in their homes. "These homeowners are not currently behind on their mortgage payments, but some may require help to remain current on their mortgages. ... Citi is focusing particularly on borrowers in areas that are likely to face extreme economic distress." Citi also extended its moratorium on foreclosures. It said it won't begin a foreclosure or complete a foreclosure sale on a home on which it owns the mortgage so long as the borrower wants to stay in the home, which is his or her principal residence; "is working in good faith with Citi, and has sufficient income for affordable mortgage payments." And Citi is working with investors to "secure their approval to expand the program to include mortgages Citi services but does not own." In early October, Bank of America reached a settlement with state attorneys general and agreed to work out 400,000 loans written by its Countrywide unit. And at the end of October, J.P. Morgan Chase said it would expand its mortgage-workout program to help 400,000 families keep their homes.

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Word of the Day

Same-Store Sales

Most folks judge the health of a business by the revenue that comes in through sales. But not all revenue is equal. Companies can grow their sales by buying other companies, which means you don't get a clear view of how the real sales trends are moving.

So, many analysts, particularly those who look at retail, try to gauge what¿s known as "organic" growth, by looking at same-store sales. These are sales only at outlets open more than a year, so the metric can exclude any sales jump that comes from opening new locations. Retailers release same-store sales (which are frequently called "comps" since they're a true comparison from the previous period) every month.

Retail, incidentally, isn't the only industry to look at same-store sales. Hospital companies, also use the metric, to gauge how existing hospitals are performing compared to ones they just built or acquired.