Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention

After reviewing a report and recommendations presented to him, New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced on Monday a series of steps to protect the integrity of foreclosure filings in the state. The report featured a review of robo-signing irregularities by mortgage lenders and servicers and included analysis of actions other states had taken.

Wells Fargo has reached an agreement with California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., to provide loan modifications worth more than $2 billion to an estimated 14,900 California homeowners with pick-a-pay loans originated by World Savings and Wachovia, banks Wells Fargo acquired. Wells Fargo will also pay an additional $32 million to thousands of borrowers who lost their homes through foreclosure. The bank says the majority of Wachovia's Pick-a-Payment customers reside in California.

The call for federal officials to establish industry-wide mortgage servicing and foreclosure standards is getting louder. A group of more than 50 senior economists, academic leaders, and influential investors sent a letter to the heads of federal regulatory agencies Tuesday, urging them to take the lead in setting national standards for mortgage loan servicers. The group argues that widely reported fraud in servicers' dealings with homeowners and foreclosure procedures demands new standards be adopted now.

For every home loan held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that was modified during the third quarter, 2.3 loans were foreclosed on during the same period. The GSEs initiated foreclosure on 339,000 home mortgages during the July to September timeframe. Loan modifications completed in the quarter totaled 146,500, with the majority of those completed through non-HAMP programs. The two companies approved 29,500 short sales during the third quarter.

Fannie Mae is adding a sixth mortgage help center to its arsenal with its first Texas location. The new center, located in Dallas, is a partnership with two local non-profit housing agencies that will provide free counseling services for struggling Dallas/Fort Worth-area homeowners with loans owned by Fannie Mae. Counselors will review a borrower's loan, discuss foreclosure alternatives, collect the required documents for the federal Making Home Affordable program, and provide help to finalize any pending loan workout efforts.

Freddie Mac will delay initiating and resuming foreclosure for at least nine months for financially troubled service members released from active duty through the end of 2011. The decision will give lenders more time to work with service members and explore relief options designed to assist them, according to a statement from Freddie Mac.

Data released by NeighborWorks America Monday illustrates the value of foreclosure prevention counseling for distressed homeowners. The organization has found that a homeowner who works with a housing counselor is nearly two times more likely to avoid foreclosure than those who go it alone. Counseled borrowers also lower their monthly mortgage payments by nearly twice as much and are less likely to re-default after a mortgage modification.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will enact a ban on advance fees charged for loan modification and mortgage assistance rescue services starting January 31, to prevent providers of such services from collecting upfront fees from homeowners without successfully securing a loan modification. The new rule, however, exempts fees charged in advance for loan modification products, such as software systems that produce modification documentation like the technology offered by loss mitigation software provider the Loan Post, Inc.

According to the fourth quarter issue of Southwest Economy, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, banks in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District are performing well, although signs of stress are still apparent. The report states that about 30 percent banks in the district, which includes Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico, find that even after restructuring troubled loans to give borrowers easier terms, many of the loans become delinquent again.

The Obama administration's signature foreclosure prevention program will help only 700,000 Americans save their homes, according to a scathing report released Tuesday by the Congressional Oversight Panel. The group's assessment falls far short of the 3 to 4 million homeowners that the president pledged would receive more sustainable mortgage loans when the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) was launched in March of last year, and is well below the 8 to 13 million foreclosures expected by 2012.