Tag Archives: Loan Modification

Treasury has released a new progress report on its Making Home Affordable initiative, covering all the ""H"" acronyms. Since the program started in April 2009, 857,000 homeowners have received permanent loan restructurings under HAMP, and 894,000 have refinanced their mortgages through HARP. HAFA transactions tally just under 19,000. Officials say they continue to see a fall in mortgage defaults due in part to foreclosure prevention programs reaching more borrowers upstream in the process, but there's ""much more work to do.""

The nation's second largest mortgage company is asking the U.S. Treasury for another $6 billion in capital support after posting its largest quarterly loss in over a year. Freddie Mac says it recorded a net loss of $4.4 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, after shouldering a $4.8 billion loss on derivatives and a $3.6 billion provision for credit losses related to high levels of mortgage refinancing and lower mortgage insurance recoveries. The GSE's REO operations expense skyrocketed to $221 million in the third quarter, compared to $27 million for the second quarter.

State attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers could be within weeks of reaching a $25 billion agreement to settle allegations that foreclosures were improperly processed. Details of the settlement terms obtained by DSNews.com indicate that individual servicer penalties will be based on the number of foreclosures they've completed. Collectively, $5 billion would come in the form of cash fines and $20 billion would be satisfied with principal-reducing modifications and refinancing for underwater borrowers.

Federally funded mortgage relief programs continue to struggle to reach homeowners, according to the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). A new report from the watchdog agency says only $2.5 billion of the $45.6 billion in TARP funds earmarked for housing programs has been spent. Regarding the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the agency estimates that as many as 600,000 homeowners who are eligible will not receive a permanent mod before the program expires next fall.

Special servicers resolved $63.5 billion in distressed commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans in the 18 months from January 2010 to June 2011, according to Fitch Ratings. This amount is more than three-fourths the amount resolved between 2007 and 2009. Modification is the most common resolution strategy for larger balance loans. Fitch reports that the recovery rate for CMBS loans resolved by special servicers has remained at or better than 86 percent since 2007.

Amid a challenging environment for servicers, CitiMortgage, GMAC, and Ocwen have outperformed major competitors with regards to loss mitigation and foreclosure timelines, according to a recent report from Moody's Investors Service. The company's Servicer Dashboard rates major servicers on their performance from June 2010 to June 2011. Moody's notes that Bank of America's and Chase's performance assessments were affected by large servicing acquisitions and foreclosure moratoria.

In preparation for policing the nation's largest lenders, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Thursday released its examination procedures for mortgage servicers. The bureau will begin its review of more than 100 large banks, thrifts, and credit unions with extensive examinations of their mortgage servicing practices, including complaint resolution, loss mitigation procedures, and foreclosures. The agency stressed that mortgage servicing has a huge impact on consumers and therefore is a top priority for the CFPB.

The number of loans held in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) resolved by special servicers in 2010 was more than four times the amount in 2009, according to Fitch's CMBS loss study released Wednesday. The company says special servicers have been increasingly successful selling properties and working with borrowers for discounted loan payoffs. However, despite this positive movement, Fitch remains uncertain what next year will bring amid current economic uncertainty.

Florida-based eMASON, Inc., developer of the Clarifire business process automation software for the financial services industry, has unveiled the Clarifire Community. The Clarifire Community portal allows borrowers, servicers, investors, title agents, real estate agents, regulators, and other mortgage industry players to come together via a single platform to synchronize activities relating to mortgage loans, while ensuring compliance with federal regulations such as single point of contact and borrower communications.

Stewart Lender Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, now provides nationwide foreclosure file processing reviews for mortgage servicers to ensure their compliance with standard foreclosure practices. The company says these services can also prove beneficial to servicers in preparation for the continued scrutiny and subsequent response to federal and state law enforcement agencies investigating mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing practices.