Permanent HAMP Mods Top 340,000 in May

Servicers continued their loss mitigation efforts under the administration's Home Affordable Modification[IMAGE]

Program (HAMP) last month. According to the ""monthly HAMP report card"":http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/May%20MHA%20Public%20062110.pdf released Monday by the ""Treasury Department"":http://www.treasury.gov/offices/public-affairs/contacts.shtml, 346,816 modified loans had been granted permanent status as of the end of May, up more than 15 percent from 299,092 in April.

Of the 47,724 permanent modifications that were initiated in May, 6,357 were canceled. As a result, active permanent modifications at the end of the month totaled 340,459. Cancellations continued to rise in May as servicers complied with Treasury guidance to make decisions on aged trials. Of the canceled trials this month, more than 70 percent had been in trial six months or longer.

The increase in cancellations may not be all bad, though. Servicers noted that most homeowners in canceled trials become current on mortgage payments or enter an alternative modification. In addition, servicers said fewer than 10 percent of canceled trials move to foreclosure sale.

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As for individual servicer performance, Bank of America led the way once again with 62,969 permanent modifications in place at the end of May. However, ""as DSNews.com previously reported"":http://dsnews.comarticles/bofa-completes-an-additional-16000-permanent-hamp-mods-in-may-2010-06-15, the bank says it actually had more than 70,000 permanent modifications at the end of the month, but due to an uploading issue, more than 7,000 of these modifications were not recorded as complete for May. As a result, these will be added to BofA's June numbers.

JPMorgan Chase Bank came in second with 47,467 permanent modifications, and Wells Fargo wasn't far behind with 40,759 completed modifications reported. CitiMortgage took the No. 4 spot with 34,675 permanent modifications.

But a different round of servicers led the pack when permanent modifications were viewed on a conversion basis. The conversion rate of permanent modifications is measured against trials eligible to convert â€" those that have been in trial for three months (or four months if the borrower was in imminent default).

According to Treasury's report, HomeEq Servicing had the highest permanent modification conversion rate, coming in at 86 percent, and Ocwen held steady with an 83 percent conversion rate. Carrington Mortgage Services reported a 79 percent conversion rate, and GMAC Mortgage came in fourth with a conversion rate of 63 percent.

The nation's four largest banks â€" Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, and JPMorgan Chase â€" were at the bottom end of the conversion ranking. These banks may have reported the highest number of permanent modifications in May, but they had conversion rates between just 24 percent and 26 percent.