Wilmington, Delaware-based ""ING DIRECT"":http://www.ingdirect.com, a national direct bank, announced today that effective immediately, it will suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties through the end of March 2009. Furthermore, in the spirit of the holidays, the company said in a written statement, ING DIRECT will also suspend evictions from occupied single-family properties until January 15, 2009.
""As a responsible lender, ING DIRECT keeps the mortgages we originate; we do not sell them to Wall Street,"" said Arkadi Kuhlmann, ING DIRECT CEO. ""We help customers buy homes with mortgages only if we believe they are suitable and affordable. Consequently, once we get customers into a home, we work hard to help them stay there.
""We hope this foreclosure suspension will provide some relief during the holidays to those experiencing financial hardships. I call on others in the mortgage industry to step up and help homeowners with foreclosure relief during these difficult times,"" Kuhlmann added.
Monday's announcement formalizes a previously informal, internal loss mitigation process, ING DIRECT said. The company joins several major lenders, as well as mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who have recently issued foreclosure moratoriums over the holiday period.