Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced changes to their Servicing Guides Monday aimed at helping more borrowers avoid foreclosure through short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure (DILs). Some of the changes are to align with certain Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rules and regulations that implement the mortgage servicing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, and some are simply to ease eligibility requirements for liquidation workout options.

It's no secret underwriting standards have tightened in recent years, and while many decry the heightened standards for making homeownership less accessible to some Americans, an economist with CoreLogic points out in a report released Wednesday that heightened standards are, without question, impacting delinquencies for the better, with 2013 vintage loans carrying a serious delinquency rate of just six basis points.

Collaboration between the private and public sectors has resulted in 8 million non-foreclosure solutions completed for at-risk families since 2007, according to HOPE NOW, a voluntary alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and nonprofit housing counselors. Over the last six years, the mortgage industry has completed more than 6.71 million total permanent loan modifications, while short sales total approximately 1.39 million since December 2009.

As of September, more than 1.2 million homeowners have received a permanent modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Homeowners currently in permanent HAMP mods have been granted an estimated $12.1 billion in reduced principal, Treasury reports. In fact, officials say of all non-GSE loans eligible for principal reduction entering HAMP in September, 72 percent included a principal reduction feature.

Over the life of the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), 1.25 million homeowners have received permanent HAMP modifications, and 27 percent of those have later redefaulted on their loans, according to a quarterly report to Congress from the TARP special inspector general. The inspector general expressed concern as far back as April that HAMP redefaults were ""increasing at an alarming rate.""

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a diversified mortgage services company operating in Dallas, was named for the second straight year in Inc. Magazine's Hire Power Awards, a list of the top 100 businesses in America for job creation. Having earned the No. 65 spot in the 2012 inaugural list, Wingspan's ranking moved up to No. 5, making it the highest ranking company in the financial services sector this year.

Servicers completed 67,000 mortgage loan modifications in August, bringing the total for the year to 580,000, according to HOPE NOW. Loan modifications increased 8 percent in August when compared to the month prior, and year-to-date loan mods outpace foreclosure sales by about 142,000. HOPE NOW reports about 23,000 short sales were completed in August.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a bulletin and interim final rule Tuesday to provide greater clarity to the market concerning mortgage servicing rules that take effect in January 2014. The clarifications address contact with delinquent borrowers, communications with family members after a borrower dies, and treatment of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy.

Centier Bank is working with MortgageKeeper Referral Services to connect the bank's customers and employees to vetted, local community resources for services like job training or utility payment assistance. MortgageKeeper says borrowers with access to these resources have additional opportunities to cure mortgage defaults.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) called on all approved mortgagees and lenders to be sensitive to the financial hardships some borrowers are facing as a result of the federal government shutdown, including those subject to furlough, layoff, or a reduction in income. The agency is instructing its industry partners to extend informal forbearance plans and exhaust all available loss mitigation options.