St Louis Real Estate – Permanent Loan Modifications under HAMP triples in December

Dennis Norman

This week the Treasury Department issed a report which included stats on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is part of the Obama administrations’ Making Home Affordable Program and “is a loan modification program designed to reduce delinquent and at-risk borrowers’ monthly mortgage payments”. The HAMP program got underway around March of this year and is set to expire December 31, 2012. According to the government website HAMP is intended to help keep “3 to 4 million Americans in their homes by preventing avoidable foreclosures.”

Permanent modifications triple in December from November:

According to the report there was great progress made in December with getting borrowers moved from the trial loan modification period to a permanent modification. Last month when I wrote about the November report there were just a little over 30,000 permanent loan modifications done since the program started, however the December report shows that over 112,000 permanent loan modifications have been done or offered to borrowers.

Here are highlights from the report:

  • Number of Trial Period Plan Offers Extended to Borrowers (Cumulative) – 1,164,507
  • All HAMP Trials Started Since Program Inception – 902,620
  • All Active Modifications (Trial and Permanent) – 853,696
  • Active Trial Modifications – 787,231
  • Permanent Modifications – 66,465
  • Permanent Modifications Pending Borrower Acceptance – 46,056
  • Total Permanent Modifications Approved by Servicers – 112,521

hamp-dec-2009-hardship-chart

hamp-dec-2009-chart-showing-activity-by-state

Is the Obama Administrations’ Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) working?

Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

This week the Treasury Department issed a report which included stats on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is part of the Obama administrations’ Making Home Affordable Program and “is a loan modification program designed to reduce delinquent and at-risk borrowers’ monthly mortgage payments”. The HAMP program got underway around March of this year and is set to expire December 31, 2012. According to the government website HAMP is intended to help keep “3 to 4 million Americans in their homes by preventing avoidable foreclosures.”

So is the Loan Modification plan working?

To try to find an answer to this, let’s look at the data in the Treasury Department report (data is through November, 2009): Continue reading “Is the Obama Administrations’ Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) working?

Over 360,000 borrowers have taken advantage of Fed’s Loan Modification Program

Dennis Norman
Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Earlier this week the Treasury Department released it’s eight “Tranche” report updating the status of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) which includes the Home Affordable Modification Programthat I have written about on several occasions. The report shows that progress is being made with regard to loan modifications with $27.07 billion, of the $50 billion available) committed to loan modifications through September 30, 2009 (see “HAMP” details on chart below). Continue reading “Over 360,000 borrowers have taken advantage of Fed’s Loan Modification Program

Mortgage Programs Fall Short in Keeping Homeowners out of Foreclosure

To alleviate some suffering by homeowners, the Obama Administration introduced the “Making Homes Affordable” plan last March. Unfortunately, the plan has not yet had the intended effect.

Article by the Grand Law Firm

Economists debate whether or not the country is actually currently in a recession. Some say that there are positive signs that we have reached the bottom and the economy is turning around. Others, however, suggest that the country still has a long way to go and it may be years yet before we truly reach financial recovery. Regardless of who is right though, one thing is clear: many people are facing significant financial hardships and need help now. Continue reading “Mortgage Programs Fall Short in Keeping Homeowners out of Foreclosure

Freddie Mac offers loan modification “room service” to help borrowers

Dennis Norman
Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

In an effort to help delinquent borrowers obtain Loan Modifications under the Affordable Refinance Program of the Making Home Affordable Program Freddie Mac has hired a company to come to borrowers homes and help them put together the documents and complete other actions needed to begin their three-month trial payment periods under the Affordable Refinance Program.

The company hired by Freddie Mac, Titanium Solutions, will target late-paying borrowers with Freddie-Mac owned mortgages who have not responded to letters or phone calls from their lenders or those who have responded but need to provide additional information or documents to launch their three-month Home Affordable Modification trial period. Titanium will also help those borrowers who have started their trial periods complete the documentation process to enable them to be converted into final modifications. Continue reading “Freddie Mac offers loan modification “room service” to help borrowers

Fed’s Loan Modification Program resulting in savings of $120 per month for borrowers

Dennis Norman
Dennis Norman

According to a study conducted by First American CoreLogicentitled “How the U.S. Consumer Has Benefited from Mortgage Finance Programs in 2009”, projections are there will be $2.3 billion in mortgages refinanced as a result of the Fed’s “Making Home Affordable” plan. According to the study, the median individual monthly savings was $120.

firstamerican corelogic The quantitative easing policies of the Federal Reserve and refinance activity made possible by the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) have allowed more than 2 million consumers to reduce their monthly mortgage debt obligations and put more money in their pockets,” said Mark Fleming PhD, and chief economist for First American Core Logic. “This permanent increase in monthly income is likely to, in part, be used to increase consumption and help to drive growth as the economy rebounds. Additionally, these refinanced loans are likely to be more sustainably affordable debt obligations. The combination of lower payments and fixed-rate terms should also reduce the risk of future foreclosure.”

Fed’s plan to modify loans to prevent foreclosure shows progress; but only for 12 percent of those eligible

Dennis Norman
Dennis Norman

Included in the “Making Home Affordable” program from the Obama administration is the “Home Affordable Modification Plan” (HAMP) designed to help 3 to 4 million home owners by modifying their existing loans to help them be more affordable.

Last week, Michael S. Barr, the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, testified before a congressional sub-committee on the status of these programs. In his testimony Mr. Barr said that weakness in the US housing market developed over many years and that during this period “inadequate regulation of lending and securitization practices, including lax underwriting standards, helped cause widespread over-leveraging in the residential mortgage sector that has contributed to millions of borrowers having mortgage payments they are unable to afford.” Continue reading “Fed’s plan to modify loans to prevent foreclosure shows progress; but only for 12 percent of those eligible