Loss Mitigation

The majority of the amount credited in the second quarter ($1.7 billion) went to modification of 9,671 loans. Another $186 million of the amount credited in Q2 went to extend 16,231 new home loans to borrowers in HUD-designated hardest-hit areas, borrowers who lost their homes to short sales or foreclosures, and low- and moderate-income borrowers.

REO inventory for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae dropped by 14 percent during Q2, down to 86,515 for the two GSEs combined, as property dispositions continued to outpace property acquisitions. It was the first time the REO inventory for the GSEs has been below 100,000 since 2009.

The challenge most reported by counselors in NFMC's report was efficient and timely communication with servicers (38 percent), which is down slightly from 40 percent in the NFMC's report from October 2013.

The mortgage industry reported about 122,000 non-foreclosure solutions (including short sales, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, and other workout plans) for July, while about 29,000 foreclosures were completed.

It has enabled the industry to evolve its loss mitigation norms by helping to define a process that uses income to drive to a specific debt-to-income level, and it is likely that modifications beyond HAMP will continue to occur on this basis.

According to Treasury's Making Home Affordable Program Performance Report for Q1 2015, approximately 2.3 million homeowners had started HAMP trial modifications in the six-year existence of the program.

For Q2, the number of workout solutions outpaced completed foreclosures by the count of 411,000 to 89,000, which calculates to an average of 4.6 solutions for every foreclosure sale during the quarter.

The Atlanta-based servicer's outreach, which is scheduled to take place in 10 cities across California, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Florida, is part of Ocwen's continued effort to partner with community leaders and non-profit housing organizations to provide solutions to struggling homeowners.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have combined to help approximately 121,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure through a variety of both retention and non-retention solutions through the first six months of 2015.

WaterfallCalc.com, an affordable, user-friendly loss mitigation waterfall calculator designed to meet the needs of all FHA mortgage servicers, has released Version 2.0 of its popular software, according to an announcement from the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company.