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Tag Archives: Loan Modification

Details of Servicer Settlement Surface, Resolution Still A Long Way Away

The robo-signing settlement presented to servicers by government agencies and attorneys general last week features 27 pages of rules and regulations. Though the details of the settlement have been released to the public, they are in no way final and will go through many rounds of negotiations before government officials and servicers can come to an agreement. There is speculation that reaching a resolution will be a daunting task, but officials are hoping the process will be complete in the next two months.

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North Carolina’s SECU Revamps Mortgage Assistance Program

With North Carolina facing a budget deficit of $2.7 billion, the State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) is fine-tuning its Mortgage Assistance Program to better assist state government employees facing potential job cuts. Developed in January 2009 with the objective of helping members stay in their homes, the institution's mortgage program so far has assisted 7,000 North Carolina families.

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Senators Advocate Restructuring Foreclosure Programs and Processes

While both the House and Senate seem to have similar ideas - that changes in foreclosure prevention are needed, and fast - the groups seem to have completely different takes on how to achieve those changes. This week members of a House committee reviewed proposals advocating for the termination of four foreclosure prevention programs and voted to send two of those proposals to the full House. Meanwhile, senators sent a letter to several government agencies, urging them to modify the very programs the House will consider terminating.

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California Senators Reintroduce Bill to Prevent Wrongful Foreclosures

With 305,000 California borrowers receiving notices of default and more than 170,000 families losing their homes to foreclosure in 2010, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) are again pushing for legislation that would help prevent what they deem as ""wrongful foreclosures."" Their California Homeowner Protection Act would require that borrowers be given a decision on a loan modification before the foreclosure process can begin.

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GSEs’ Foreclosure Prevention Actions Double in One Year’s Time

The nation's two largest mortgage companies saw the number of actions carried out to prevent foreclosures on their loans more than double in 2010 when compared to 2009. Servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans completed 946,305 foreclosure prevention workouts in 2010, according to data from the GSEs' regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). In 2009, they completed 431,098. FHFA also stressed that the performance of recently modified loans has improved relative to loans modified in earlier periods.

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Banks Receive Proposal That Could Make Write-Downs Mandatory

On Thursday banks received the much awaited proposal that many speculated would detail the potential ramifications for their part in the foreclosure and robo-signing mess. According to various reports, the proposal could force banks to reduce principal loan balances for borrowers who are delinquent or underwater, or pay a multi-billion dollar fine. Reports have surfaced that banks are pushing back against proposed mandatory write-downs, claiming that such a practice could invite fraud.

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Committee Votes to Kill Two Housing Programs, Delays Decision on Two

The House Financial Services Committee voted Thursday to scrap two foreclosure relief programs - one that gives underwater homeowners a federal refinancing option through FHA's Short Refi Program, and a second that provides temporary assistance to unemployed homeowners through the Emergency Mortgage Relief Fund. The two bills now move to the full House for debate. The committee was also planning to consider two separate bills to end the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, but votes on these have been pushed to next week.

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BofA Initiates Hardest Hit Fund Principal Reduction Offers in Arizona

Bank of America is the first major mortgage servicer to leverage the federal government's Hardest Hit Fund to begin pilot programs of principal reductions for Arizona customers who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth. Through the Arizona pilot, BofA customers experiencing financial hardship may be eligible to have the amount owed on their mortgages reduced through matching contributions from the state and participating mortgage investors.

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Officials Tout HAMP Positives, with Nearly 540K in Permanent Mods

Treasury released its new numbers for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Wednesday, just hours before a House subcommittee convened a hearing to terminate the government's flagship foreclosure prevention program and three other federal housing programs. As of the end of January, active permanent HAMP mods totaled 539,493, but critics say the numbers aren't high enough and the House subcommittee's looming ""kill-bill"" hearing was a sensitive subject for officials.

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DRI Unveils New Modules, New Name for Default Management Platform

DRI Management Systems, Inc., a provider of default process management software, added new functionality with several new modules to version 1.4 of its flagship technology. Officially relabeled DRI Office, the platform was previously known by its development code name, Rincon. According to DRI, the new version was created to relieve mortgage servicers' workloads and improve results with capacity planning, workflow tracking, services ordering, and enhanced communication capabilities.

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