Citigroup announces mortgage help, will it help the stock at all?

Posted Mar 3rd 2009 9:20AM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C)

This morning, Citgroup (NYSE: C) announced a new initiative that it expects will help the recently unemployed mortgage customers that have fallen behind in their payments. The goal is to keep these customers in their homes by reducing their monthly mortgage payment for three months.

Who is eligible for this program? Borrowers with first mortgages whose loans are owned and serviced by CitiMortage. The borrowers also have to meet other guidelines to be eligible for program participation.

According to Citigroup, the required monthly payment for most qualifying customers will be roughly $500 per month.

This is a noble idea, a good program - but will it be enough to help Citigroup shares elevate themselves from the rankings of a penny stock? Technically, it will be a tough road to travel for the stock to regain its $20 price from the last few months of 2008.

The shares are currently languishing below their 10-, 20-, and 50-week moving averages, all of which have stopped past runs higher. The problem is that the shares will have to advance through the $1.25 and $2.50 levels before making a run at their 10-week moving average. From there, the $5.00 level could act as resistance.

For Citigroup stock to advance at all, it will have to break through various layers of resistance, against all of which it has failed in the past. This could be a long struggle.

Tags: c, citigroup, homeowners, inthenews, mortgage defaults, MortgageDefaults, mortgages