12/17/09 12:40 pm - Citibank Dissembling Again: Foreclosures

This sort of nonsense is exactly the kind of accounting game that I've been yelling about for two years…. and as is my usual practice, I'll translate it into English for you in my usual sarcastic fashion (my view of it in italics, of course, with the original struck out):

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Citigroup said Thursday it plans to suspend foreclosures for 30 days for homeowners with Citigroup-owned mortgages.

Under the program, which begins Friday, Citigroup will halt all foreclosure sales on first mortgage accounts nationwide through Jan. 17. The bank also will cease evictions wait until the weather is even colder to throw people into the street in their underwear.

Citigroup's program affects only those loans owned by the bank, about 20% of the company's $746 billion mortgage servicing and lending portfolio, Citigroup said.

Citigroup said the suspension will affect about 2,000 borrowers scheduled for foreclosure and another 2,000 that were to receive foreclosure notifications in the next 30 days.

"We hope that with this suspension we can make the holidays a little less stressful for our customers who are going through a very difficult time We are doing this so as to avoid having to recognize the loss on properties that are deeply underwater, thereby cooking our books until the quarter is reported so we don't have to declare insolvency," said Sanjiv Das, president and CEO of Citigroup's mortgage division, in a statement.

There – fixed it for 'ya.