Tag Archives: Loan Modification

In the third quarter of this year, servicers increased the pace at which they completed proprietary modifications and short sales, HOPE NOW data revealed Monday. In Q3 2012, proprietary modifications, or non-government mods, stood at 186,057 compared to 161,764 in Q3 2011, representing a 15 percent annual gain, according to the alliance. Quarter-over-quarter, proprietary mods were up 41 percent compared to Q2 2012, when there were 131,556 completed mods.

The mortgage market may be the largest market for consumer finance, but the sector lacks a comprehensive national database, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This is why the federal agencies are coming together to create a national mortgage database. Borrower profiles, payment history, and the mortgage product and terms will be included in the database, which will be updated monthly.

Home prices reached a sustainable bottom during the first quarter of this year, according to Barclays' U.S. residential credit strategy team. In many markets, longer-term affordability measures point to equilibrium, the firm's analysts contend. While the floor appears to have materialized, they stress that home prices are likely to recover slowly over the next 4 to 5 years, increasing on average 3 to 4 percent annually. At that rate, Barclays' analysts explained, home prices will remain below their 2006 pre-crisis peaks until June 2021.

The president and CEO of Ocwen Financial Corporation was honored recently at an annual gala hosted by Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), a HUD-approved foreclosure prevention agency.

August data from HOPE NOW revealed mortgage servicers gave an estimated 75,968 homeowners permanent loan modifications during the month. In July, total loan modifications was higher at 82,679. HOPE NOW also reported the industry has seen 5.75 million loan modifications since 2007. Of those modifications, about 4.68 million were proprietary loan modifications, while more than 1 million were from HAMP.

Three mortgage relief companies are in hot water after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged them with using deceptive tactics to prey on distressed homeowners. The FTC filed three separate suits against Prime Legal Plans, American Mortgage Consulting Group, and Expense Management America for allegedly violating its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule, which prohibits certain practices commonly used by fraudulent mortgage assistance companies.

Residential mortgage servicer Vericrest Financial, Inc., announced Thursday that it has relocated its Texas Center of Excellence from Dallas to Irving, Texas. Vericrest's Texas center houses the company's corporate functions, as well as asset management, business development, technology, and servicing operations. The company says its plans for future expansion could create potentially hundreds of new jobs.

The population of CMBS loans handled by special servicers is declining, which could signal a turning point for the commercial real estate sector, Fitch Ratings said in a report Friday. As of June 30 of this year, the balance for CMBS loans shrunk to $80.5 billion, down from $85.5 billion in June 2011 and a significant drop from $92 billion in June 2010.

In the second quarter of 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed more than 129,007 foreclosure prevention actions, raising the year-to-date total to 275,106, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which is the GSEs conservator and regulator, reported Wednesday. The second quarter total is a decrease from the first quarter of 2012, when the GSEs completed 146,099 foreclosure prevention actions. Since 2008, the start of the conservatorship, the GSEs have completed nearly 2.4 million foreclosure prevention actions, 1.2 million of which included permanent loan mods.

July saw a drop in foreclosure activity in the Bay State, The Warren Group reported Monday. The group released its July 2012 Foreclosure Data for the state, showing that a total of 1,198 foreclosures were initiated in July the lowest monthly level recorded so far in 2012.