Wells Fargo Continues to Deliver Modifications to Troubled Borrowers

In an announcement Wednesday, ""Wells Fargo & Co."":https://www.wellsfargo.com/ said it initiated or completed three modifications for every one foreclosure sale on owner-occupied properties from October 2009 through March 2010.

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As of March 31, the lender had 523,336 active trial and completed modifications through its own modification programs and the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

The majority of these modifications came from programs outside of HAMP. Active non-HAMP trials in place at the end of March 2010 and non-HAMP modifications completed since the beginning of 2009 comprised nearly 380,000 of the total.

""Wells Fargo maintained its focus on delivering payment relief to borrowers and has provided modifications to more than 520,000 of our customers since the beginning of 2009,"" said Mike Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. ""HAMP is the starting point in our efforts to help borrowers facing financial challenges, but we been very successful in finding other workout options when a customer is not eligible for HAMP.""

HAMP has seen some success, though. Wells Fargo reported 144,932 HAMP active trial and completed modifications as of March 31, including 30,014 permanent modifications and 9,162 permanent modifications pending completion.

The lender said 138,000 of its HAMP customers had made all three trial payments at the end of March. Of these, a completed modification is expected for 50 percent, and 30 percent will likely be ineligible for a permanent modification after documents have been reviewed. Wells Fargo anticipates another 10 percent will be missing some of the required documents, and the remaining 10 percent will fail to provide any required documents.

In addition to initiating loan modifications, Wells Fargo recently rolled out the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program. ""As DSNews.com previously reported"":http://dsnews.comarticles/hafa-is-officially-underway-2010-04-05 HAFA officially launched April 5, 2010, and provides incentives to servicers and customers who work on short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.

As a result of Wells Fargo's foreclosure prevention programs, fewer than 2 percent of loans secured by owner-occupied homes and serviced by the lender proceeded to a foreclosure sale in the last 12 months. According to the March 5 edition of _Inside Mortgage Finance_, Wells Fargo's delinquency and foreclosure rates in the fourth quarter of 2009 were three-fourths that of the industry, and more than 91 percent of its mortgage customers remained current on their loan payments.

To support implementation of existing and new home preservation initiatives, Wells Fargo has added more than 10,000 home retention staff since the beginning of 2009. And the lender now has approximately 17,400 U.S.-based staff focused on these efforts.