DSNews The homepage of the servicing industry
""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp announced Thursday that it has completed a total of 56,400 permanent mortgage modifications under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), including nearly 24,000 in April alone.
[IMAGE]""We were able to convert close to 24,000 Bank of America customers from trial to permanent modifications in the past month, completing the process for more homeowners than in any previous month,"" said Jack Schakett, credit loss mitigation strategies executive for Calabasas, California-based Bank of America Home Loans.
Schakett said Bank of America continues to evaluate homeowners' eligibility and activate trial modifications while focusing on completing as many permanent modifications as possible for those who have successfully completed their trial payment period. However, he said the bank is beginning to see a decrease in the number of active trial modifications.
Bank of America said the decline in active trial modifications, in part, reflects successful conversions to completed modifications and implementation of new government requirements for documentation of financial information before a borrower can enter the trial modification period, which in turn slows the inflow of these modifications.
The bank said it is currently in the process of notifying customers who did not meet eligibility requirements for HAMP or who did not meet the requirements of their trial period plan. Letters are being mailed to thousands of these customers to notify them that they are not eligible to complete a permanent HAMP modification. However, the bank is also letting these customers know that it may explore other homeownership retention options, depending on individual circumstances and investor guidelines.
As part of these ""other options,"" Bank of America has completed nearly 550,000 modifications outside of HAMP through proprietary programs since January 2008, with more than 59,000 occurring in the first four months of this year. All told, through HAMP and non-HAMP solutions, the bank has completed more than 605,000 modifications since January 2008, including 115,000 so far in 2010.
In addition, Bank of America said it continues to support all facets of the administration's Making Home Affordable initiative. In January, the bank became the ""first servicer to sign an agreement to participate in the new second-lien modification program"":http://dsnews.comarticles/bofa-signs-on-as-first-servicer-of-hamps-second-lien-program-2010-01-26, and it mailed the first offers under this program on April 1. Additionally, Bank of America became operational in the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative program in April, and the bank has refinanced more than 200,000 mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinance Program.
Bank of America also said implementation of the ""recently-announced enhancements to its National Homeownership Retention Program"":http://dsnews.comarticles/bofa-to-offer-principal-forgiveness-some-underwater-homeowners-2010-03-24 will begin soon. The innovative earned principal forgiveness approach, announced in March, will target types of loans that have demonstrated the highest risk of default by using principal reduction as the first step toward reaching an affordable payment through modification.
