Tag Archives: Loan Modification

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has provided free foreclosure counseling assistance to more than 17,000 families through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program over the last two years. Created by Congress in January 2008 to address the nationwide foreclosure crisis by increasing the availability of free counseling for families at risk, the NFMC program has provided 1.12 million struggling homeowners with foreclosure prevention counseling across the nation.

The HOPE NOW industry alliance completed its fourth year in existence in 2010. The organization's latest market report estimates 1.65 million homeowners received permanent loan modifications from January to November 2010. The organization says it plans to be even more aggressive in its outreach efforts to distressed homeowners this year. Going forward, each of its members will participate in one major outreach event per month, in regions that have been most heavily affected by the mortgage and foreclosure crises.

There has been no shortage of reports of state attorneys general seeking accountability from servicers that they allege mishandled foreclosures. Now it's being reported that attorneys general in all 50 states are near to reaching settlements with the nation's top five mortgage servicers, including Bank of America and GMAC Mortgage. The states are looking to develop separate agreements, rather than one encompassing settlement; and they plan to pursue a civil investigation rather than a criminal one.

The online loan modification Web portal HOPE LoanPort announced Tuesday that it received a $100,000 grant from Chase Bank to help facilitate mortgage modifications. The Washington, D.C.-based company, developed by the HOPE NOW alliance, is a Web-based instrument that helps simplify the mortgage modification process by allowing HUD-approved housing counselors to collect and then upload modification documents directly to the mortgage servicers and track the applications.

New data from federal regulators show that the nation's largest banks and thrifts repossessed nearly 187,000 homes during the third quarter of 2010. The number of foreclosures completed during the three-month period is up 57.5 percent from a year earlier. The report shows that new foreclosures initiated also rose to more than 382,000. Although foreclosure activity increased during the quarter, servicers reported almost twice as many home retention actions as completed home forfeiture actions.

The government's key foreclosure prevention program has put 504,648 distressed homeowners into permanently modified loans since its launch in March 2009. Treasury released new numbers for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Wednesday, and in addition to crossing the 500K threshold, the data show that servicers stepped up their use of the program. Permanent modifications in November rose 26 percent compared to October, and 20 percent more trial mods were started.

Wells Fargo has reached an agreement with California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., to provide loan modifications worth more than $2 billion to an estimated 14,900 California homeowners with pick-a-pay loans originated by World Savings and Wachovia, banks Wells Fargo acquired. Wells Fargo will also pay an additional $32 million to thousands of borrowers who lost their homes through foreclosure. The bank says the majority of Wachovia's Pick-a-Payment customers reside in California.

For every home loan held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that was modified during the third quarter, 2.3 loans were foreclosed on during the same period. The GSEs initiated foreclosure on 339,000 home mortgages during the July to September timeframe. Loan modifications completed in the quarter totaled 146,500, with the majority of those completed through non-HAMP programs. The two companies approved 29,500 short sales during the third quarter.

Fannie Mae is adding a sixth mortgage help center to its arsenal with its first Texas location. The new center, located in Dallas, is a partnership with two local non-profit housing agencies that will provide free counseling services for struggling Dallas/Fort Worth-area homeowners with loans owned by Fannie Mae. Counselors will review a borrower's loan, discuss foreclosure alternatives, collect the required documents for the federal Making Home Affordable program, and provide help to finalize any pending loan workout efforts.

A second state has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America for alleged deceptive loan modification and foreclosure practices. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced that her office has also opened a lawsuit against the company and its affiliates regarding its residential mortgage servicing procedures. Bank of America says it is disappointed by the lawsuit and is currently engaged in multi-state discussions to improve foreclosure related processes and programs to help distressed homeowners.