Tag Archives: Loan Modification

The Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting consumers from predatory lending practices, and the Financial Services Roundtable, a group of representatives from the nation's largest financial institutions, have come together to ask Congress to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which will otherwise expire at the end of this year. The two groups argue that if lawmakers fail to act, it will make it difficult for struggling homeowners to accept short sale, and even loan modification, offers.

Freddie Mac's single-family seriously delinquent rate decreased from 3.37 percent in September to 3.31 percent in October--the lowest it's been since August 2009. The GSE's multifamily delinquency rate also fell, from 0.27 percent in September to 0.24 percent for the month of October. At the same time, Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio continued to shrink, however increased purchase and issuance volume pushed the company closer to positive growth for the first time in more than a year and a half.

Cincinnati-based eLynx, a portfolio company of American Capital, announced its compliance with all guidelines recently published by the IRS for obtaining electronic signatures on Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA), an association of private mortgage insurers, reported Monday that since 2009, its members have insured $86.9 billion in mortgages modified or refinanced through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) as well as in mortgages modified through other means. The $86.9 billion is distributed among 496,961 homes across the nation.

Since 2011 when Treasury required the largest servicers to develop a single point of contact (SPOC) for all homeowners working through loss mitigation as part of the Making Home Affordable program, servicers have begun to implement the new standard in various ways. The Treasury noted in a recent report the nine largest servicers participating in the program have implemented three different SPOC models. In total, the nine servicers Treasury observed have increased staffing and now have 12,000 SPOCs working to communicate with homeowners.

Five mortgage servicers--Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Ally--have provided over 300,000 borrowers with some form of mortgage relief as part of a settlement agreement, according to a report from settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith, Jr. As of September 30, 2012, the banks reported they have provided $26.1 billion in actual consumer relief. Short sales accounted for $13.13 billion of that amount. Part of the settlement agreement requires the banks to provide $20 billion in relief, but the servicers are not always credited on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

In a letter, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accused Wells Fargo of using Hurricane Sandy to evade obligations under the national mortgage settlement. According to the AG's letter, a law firm representing Wells Fargo released a letter stating the bank will suspend ""all Home Preservation reviews and decisions"" as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Schneiderman's letter was addressed to the CEO of Wells Fargo and demands that the bank ""immediately rescind"" the policy.

Since the IRS will soon allow electronic signatures on Form 4506-T, Equifax announced it has enhanced proprietary verifications services in anticipation of the change.

Bank of America announced it's on track to fulfill consumer relief requirements as part of the national mortgage settlement within the first year of the three-year agreement. So far, the bank has completed or approved $15.8 billion in consumer relief for about 164,000 homeowners as of September 30. One form of consumer relief offered through the settlement is first-lien principal forgiveness, which BofA has offered to 30,000 customers, leading to $4.75 billion in principal reductions.

The state of the housing market continues to improve though recovery remains ""fragile,"" according to the October Housing Scorecard released Friday by the Obama administration. Along with the scorecard, the administration released special instructions for those administering the Making Home Affordable Program in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. In areas directly impacted by Hurricane Sandy, servicers must offer at least three months forbearance to any homeowners eligible for Making Home Affordable who request forbearance.