Tag Archives: HAMP

Over the last year, Freddie Mac servicers have helped over one million borrowers remain in their homes through available programs. The total includes 687,000 borrowers who refinanced in 2012, of which 434,000 were borrowers who refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

Nearly 70,000 homeowners received permanent loan modifications in April, while foreclosure sales stood at 59,000 for the month, according to data from HOPE NOW, an alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and nonprofit counselors. Since 2007, 6.39 million struggling homeowners have received permanent modifications, HOPE NOW reported. Completed short sales reached 27,000 in April--a slight adjustment from 28,000 in March.

In a newly published paper posted on the New York Federal Reserve website, Robert Hockett, a Cornell University professor of financial and monetary law, proposes using government's eminent domain authority as a solution to underwater mortgage debt. In reviewing Hockett's suggestion, the Wall Street Journal concentrated not on the idea itself, but on the fact that Hockett ""turns out to have been on the payroll of none other than Mortgage Resolution Partners."" There may be a lot of good reasons to discard Hockett's suggestion, but his past relationships are not among them. His idea deserves a fair hearing, not a digression.

In the Obama administration's overall assessment on housing, the market was described as showing ""important progress across many key indicators"" but the millions of underwater homeowners still call for a need to provide homeowner assistance, according to the May housing scorecard released jointly by Treasury and HUD. For example, homeowners' equity grew by more than $815 billion in the first quarter of 2013. ""Despite the positive news, we have important work ahead since there are so many families and individuals still ‘underwater' with mortgage balances higher than their home's value,"" said Kurt Usowski, HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs.

From January through March, servicers implemented 244,933 loan modifications, according to HOPE NOW. At the same time, 83,394 borrowers avoided foreclosure through the short sale process. This brings the combined total for loan modifications and short sales to 328,327 for the first quarter. Meanwhile, HOPE NOW data showed foreclosure sales fell 14 percent to 161,641. Although foreclosure sales were down, foreclosure starts increased 30 percent in the first quarter to about 472,000.

While the likelihood of re-defaulting on a HAMP modification is smaller compared to private sector modifications, borrowers can become disqualified from the program if they miss three consecutive payments. According to the most recent Making Home Affordable Program report for March released by Treasury, the key to strengthening the chances a borrower won't become disqualified is to provide a significant payment reduction. ""Payment reduction is strongly correlated with permanent modification sustainability,"" the report concluded.

Ocwen Financial Corporation experienced a surge in net income for the first quarter, which more than doubled over a year, and reported record revenue. In Q1 2013, Ocwen's net income jumped to $45.1 million, or $0.31 per share, up from 19.3 million, or $0.14 per share, a year ago. Revenue for the Atlanta-based company also surged 147 percent year-over-year to $406.7 million in Q1 2013, while income from operations increased 108 percent to $163.1 million during the same time period. ""Ocwen's core earnings and cash-flow were strong in the first quarter, and we should see these trend higher as a percentage of revenue as we drive down costs and delinquencies on newly acquired business,"" said Bill Erbey, Ocwen's chairman.

MortgageDocs, a national notary signing services company based in California, has named Christian Redmond as its new CEO. Prior to his appointment at MortgageDocs, Redmond was VP of business development at the Walz Group, a case management and document fulfillment firm that handles critical communications between the mortgage servicing community and borrowers such as default and foreclosure notifications as well as loss mitigation packages.

The number of permanent mortgage modifications completed during the month of February rose 6 percent from January, according to the latest report from HOPE NOW. At the same time, foreclosure sales decreased and foreclosure starts increased, according to the industry group. More than 81,300 homeowners received permanent loan modifications in February, according to HOPE NOW. HOPE NOW also observed a 21 percent decrease in foreclosure sales in February. Foreclosure starts, on the other hand, increased 16 percent in February, rising to 193,860 for the month.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported a spike in cure rates in February. About 500,000 loans were cured, or went from being delinquent to current, in February, with most of the cures reported on loans that were just one or two months past due, according to LPS' February Mortgage Monitor report. LPS also found an increase in modifications over the last two quarters after two years of decreases.