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| Graph Courtesy of National Mortgage Professional Magazine |
Loan Mods are REAL! - Government Reports 80,000 Approved in January 2013 (But, MORE PRESSURE is Needed to Bring the Thousands of Pending Applications to Completion!)
By Chris Qualmann
According to National Mortgage Professional Magazine - and
information just released by the United States Department of Treasury - nearly 80,000 US homeowners
received permanent, affordable loan modifications in January 2013.
Per statistics compiled through a division of Housing and Urban
Development (“HUD”), the number of “proprietary”, in house and non government-funded modifications in January exceeded
the modifications granted through the Treasury Department’s “Home Affordable
Modification Program” (“HAMP”) by a ratio of approximately 5:1 ... a ratio that’s
been consistent over the past six (6) years.
According to Treasury, January’s figures bring the total
number of permanent loan modifications since 2007 to 6.15 million, which breaks
down as follows:
- Since 2007, a total of 5,002,409 homeowners have received proprietary, "in house" loan modifications.
- Also since 2007, a total 1,151,340 homeowners have received modifications through the government-underwritten "Home Affordable Modification Program" ("HAMP") (Note: HAMP reporting began in 2009).
Specifically - During the month of January 2013:
- 63,539 homeowners received proprietary, "in house" loan modifications.
- 14,858 homeowners received HAMP modifications.
- Loan modifications completed via proprietary, private, “in house” programs once again showed strong characteristics of sustainability and affordability for homeowners.
- Proprietary loan modifications that included fixed interest rates of five (5) years or more accounted for 88 percent (55,698) of the total.
- Proprietary loan modifications with reduced principal and interest payments accounted for 85 percent (54,113) of the total.
- Proprietary loan modifications with reduced principal and interest payments of more than 10% accounted for 76 percent (48,595) of the total.
Additionally, Treasury reports that the total amount of successfully completed Short Sales for January 2013 was 29,244 - contributing to a
total of approximately 1,182,283 since December 2009. The combination of loan
modifications and short sales has brought the total number of permanent,
non-foreclosure solutions to approximately 7.33 million.
Also during the month of January 2013, there was encouraging news showing that both foreclosure sales and foreclosure starts dropped significantly when compared to numbers from a year ago.
Specifically, January 2013 showed 60,412 foreclosure sales
completed, compared to 78,734 completed in January 2012 - a decrease of just under 25%.
Additionally, there were 140,482 foreclosure starts reported in January, compared to 200,447
reported in 2012 - a decrease of approximately 30%.
Delinquencies of 60 days or more were at 2.53 million,
compared to 2.77 million in January of 2012 - a decline of almost nine percent (9%). (Note: Treasury reports that "Delinquency data" is extrapolated from data received by the Mortgage Bankers
Association for the fourth quarter of 2012).
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THE BOTTOM LINE: While the current data reported by Treasury is greatly encouraging, there still are many, many other homeowners dealing with the frustration of their loan modification, short sale, and other loss mitigation applications appearing "stuck in the mud" and mired in bureaucratic "red tape" in the loan servicing departments of mortgage lenders.
Pressure from not only Government agencies but also from independent, non-bank affiliated Consumer Advocacy Organizations is desperately needed to bring closure to the huge backlog of unresolved loan mod / short sale files.
And, ultimately, it takes strict adherence to the "P-Word" to get these files finished ... Persistence, Persistence, and More Persistence!
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