WASHINGTON — Mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures for about 16,000 households during the holiday season.
The two companies said Thursday they will halt foreclosure sales between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9 while they evaluate whether borrowers qualify for a new loan-modification program announced last week.
Fannie Mae said about 10,000 households would be affected, while Freddie Mac said the changes would affect about 6,000 borrowers who are facing foreclosure. The change does not apply to vacant homes.
The announcement “provides a new measure of certainty to many of these families during the holidays,” Freddie Mac chief executive David Moffett said in a release.
Fannie and Freddie were seized by the government Sept. 7. The companies’ chief executives were ousted, and the government now has direct control over the pair. Fannie and Freddie’s loan-modification plan aims to help abate the foreclosure crisis.
No specific numbers were available on Fannie/Freddie loans in the Denver-Aurora area. Overall, about 1.5 percent of outstanding mortgage loans in the area were in foreclosure in August, up from 1.1 percent in August 2007, according to First American CoreLogic.
