Previous Story
CDA: Loan payments improve under debt relief program
|
Posted on Mar 28 2012
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
The Commonwealth Development Authority has seen its loan payment collections improve through an increase in the number of borrowers availing of the debt relief program.
Loan manager Oscar Camacho said they now have 44 borrowers under the debt relief program, compared to last year’s 34.
But despite moving in 10 new clients to the program, Camacho noted that 10 clients are experiencing difficulty in updating their payments to CDA.
“We are addressing these via conferences, consultations, workout plans, catch up plans, etc.,” Camacho told Saipan Tribune via email.
Camacho also noted that one client “completely stopped” making payments, which they are trying to address through foreclosure or the deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Executive director Manuel A. Sablan described the increase in the number of clients under the debt relief program and the improvement in collections as “making progress.”
“There’s more delinquent borrowers that are availing themselves [of] this program. We can see that the collections have improved because some of these borrowers are never even making any payment for years. We restructure it and they’re making payments now,” Sablan said.
According to him, both the debt relief program and the deed in lieu of foreclosure “are two vehicles that we’re using to find ways to alleviate the situation” on delinquent loans.
Sablan pointed out that foreclosing a property would be their last resort.
“One of the things that we’re doing really is trying to kill fires, trying to find solutions to some of the problems that have been generated over the years,” he explained. “We’ve come to a situation where everything seems to be going against us in terms of economic development so we’ll find ways to be proactive out there.”
Camacho said that besides the debt relief program, loans under the Development Corporation Division also make up the bulk of their performing loans.
Of the 51 listed clients in the DCD, 19 are in the buy-back program or loans that CDA purchased back from banks and the U.S. Small Business Administration, while 15 are in “extreme payment difficulty.”
“A handful are having a hard time but are paying and more than dozen remain in real good shape,” said Camacho.
