No Job? No House Payment

An interesting idea - if you lose your job and are collecting unemployment, you don't have to make a house payment for up to 9 months.

That is a proposed plan by Bank of America as one possible solution to the problem of high unemployment and struggling homeowners.

The catch under this plan is that if you don't get a job within 9 months and start making your house payment again, you agree to sign your house over to the bank in exchange for up to $2,000 to move out of the home.

This plan isn't official yet -- it still needs regulatory approval and there is no telling whether that will happen or when it will happen.

Would the plan be popular with homeowners if approved?

Possibly.

According to the Charlotte Observer:

"It's something I would have done," said Bill Sagy, a Bank of America mortgage customer laid off last June from his management consultant position. "That would definitely have worked."

Instead, he spent months working with the bank for reduced payments that he thought would become a long-term modification. But that didn't happen, making him one of a growing group of homeowners who spent scarce resources that didn't ultimately save their homes.

Sagy's Huntersville home, which he bought for $253,000 in 2006, has shed value and is unlikely to sell for what he owes. Without a modification, he's behind on payments and says the bank wants to foreclose.

"It's so frustrating," said Sagy, who with his wife is considering relocating.

Will the plan work? I don't know for sure, but I have to give Bank of America credit - at least they are trying to come up with something that will work.

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