This is according to Sen. Paul A. Manglona after he met with MPLT, the Northern Mariana Housing Corp. and the Bank of Saipan last week.
Manglona, R-Rota, said the corporate director of NMHC, Joshua T. Sasamoto, have informed him about the status of the housing loans.
Some of the clients have been classified as delinquent for not being able to pay their financial obligations.
Of the 76 borrowers who are nearly, or have been, in default, “I think 11 abandoned their homes already,” Manglona told the Variety. “Only about 56 of the 137 homeowner borrowers are current payers.”
The senator said MPLT is already working on the loan accounts of the 76 borrowers to prevent foreclosures.
“MPLT will try to work things out [with them] to make some payment,” he said.
Alvaro Santos, chairman of MPLT’s board of trustees, said: “We want these borrowers to keep their homes.”
MPLT will offer first-time home loan borrowers 2 percent interest reduction on their loans, he said.
“This measure will provide financial relief to the borrowers in these difficult economic times,” Santos said.
In an e-mail to the Variety, he said MPLT is coordinating with the Bank of Saipan to manage the home loan portfolio of MPLT for its home loan borrowers on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
He added that the Bank of Saipan will work “with defaulting borrowers to make their mortgage payments affordable to avoid foreclosures.”
The Bank of Saipan is inviting all homeowner borrowers under MPLT’s home loan portfolio to come forward and arrange for an affordable refinancing scheme.
Manglona said MPLT will report back to his office within three months.
