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Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention

California Inventory Continues to Diminish as Foreclosure Activity Falls

Foreclosure activity was somewhat mixed in the five Western states--Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington--observed by ForeclosureRadar over the month of January. Notably, California foreclosure sales were down in January, despite a past trend of an uptick in the month following a decline in December. However, this January, both notices of default and notices of foreclosure sale declined in January--down 60.5 percent and 34.83 percent, respectively, over the month. Adequate inventory is necessary for a recovery to take place, but is lacking in much of the state, according to the analytics firm.

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Barclays: Why Repeat Mods Have Been Making a Comeback

The pace of modifications is slowing compared to the 2010 peak, but repeat modifications are on the rise, according to a recent research report from Barclays. Not only are mods returning for seconds, but researchers from Barclays also found remodifications perform more poorly than first-time mods. Barclays gave three reasons for the rise in repeat mods: first-time mods did not reduce payments enough, leading to higher re-defaults; servicers are taking advantage of HAMP principal reduction alternatives; and servicing transfers are leading to an increase in remodifications.

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Ally Completes Consumer Relief Obligations Under Settlement

Ally has satisfied its consumer relief obligations required under last year's National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), according to a report filed by settlement monitor Joseph Smith Jr. Smith filed his report with the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, certifying that ""Residential Capital, LLC, Ally Financial, Inc. and GMAC Mortgage, LLC (collectively, Ally) have satisfied their consumer relief obligations."" According to the settlement terms, Ally was required to provide $200 million in relief to customers in the form of loan modifications, short sales, principal forgiveness, and other forms of relief.

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HUD Secretary Speaks on Impact of Automatic Spending Cuts

In his written testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke on the potential impact to households across the nation if across-the-board automatic spending cuts were to take effect. The cuts are scheduled for March 1. Speaking from HUD's perspective, Donovan says the cuts, also referred to as the sequester, would be especially damaging on middle class families, communities, and the economy across the nation. More specifically, he warned the cuts would keep 75,000 households from receiving foreclosure prevention, pre-purchase, rental, or other counseling though HUD housing counseling grants.

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‘Life Rafts’ Keep Underwater Mortgages in San Bernardino Afloat: Fed

In a recent blog post from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, three Fed researchers shared their findings on mortgages that would have been targeted by a controversial use of eminent domain proposed in San Bernardino County. Although the researchers found only 11 percent of the open loans in the county were not underwater, they also reported a dramatic decrease in payments and an increase in home values.

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RealtyTrac: Foreclosure Starts Slow to 79-Month Low

Foreclosure activity slowed in January with an especially notable drop in foreclosure starts, which hit a 79-month low, according to a recent foreclosure report from RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings--default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions--were down monthly and yearly by 7 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Data from RealtyTrac also revealed a steep drop in foreclosure starts as starts fell 11 percent from the December and 28 percent from January 2012. Foreclosure starts are now at the lowest level since June 2006.

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Fannie Mae Announces Tool to Escalate Short Sales

Real estate professionals who find themselves stuck in the short sale process can turn to a recently expanded tool from Fannie Mae. The HomePath for Short Sales tool can be used by agents to escalate the short sale process. The tool is for loans owned by Fannie Mae. When agents escalate a case, Fannie Mae will contact the appropriate agent or servicer to address the challenge that may be stalling the process.

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Senators Reintroduce Refi Bill

Two U.S. senators reintroduced legislation designed to open up competition and limit barriers to refinance for qualified homeowners who are otherwise left without options. Senators Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Barbara Boxer (D-California) reintroduced The Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act of 2013, a bill that would allow homeowners to take advantage of low interest rates by reducing or removing certain refinance requirements.

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CFPB Plans to Closely Monitor Loan Transfer Activity from Servicers

In light of the heightened number of mortgage servicing transfers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a bulletin to servicers and subservicers to remind them of protections for consumers when loan transfers occur. ""If the transfer process is not handled properly, consumers may find that their servicer lost important loss mitigation documents or that the servicer did not credit their payments on time,"" the CFPB explained. The CFPB also announced it is making servicing transfer-related problems a focus and will be scrutinizing servicers in a few specific areas.

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Illinois Allows Lenders to Fast-Track Foreclosures for Abandoned Homes

As states across the country continue to struggle with lengthy foreclosure timelines, Illinois took a momentous step to shorten its foreclosure process last week. A new Illinois state law that allows servicers to fast-track the foreclosure process on certain properties has the potential to shorten a two-year process to between 90 and 180 days. The bill, which took almost as long to pass as Illinois former foreclosure process, received Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's signature Friday.

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