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Foreclosures Increase As Mortgage Modification Programs Lose Steam

Even with the foreclosure moratoriums that a few of the nation’s biggest banks instituted following the robo-signing scandal, foreclosures for this year will likely top one million. According to a report released yesterday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision — two of the federal bank regulators — foreclosure activities were up significantly in the last quarter:

The number of new foreclosures increased to more than 382,000 — 31.2 percent more than in the previous quarter and 3.7 percent more than a year earlier. The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million — 4.5 percent more than in the previous quarter and 10.1 percent more than a year earlier. The number of completed foreclosures also increased to nearly 187,000 — 14.7 percent more than in the previous quarter and 57.5 percent more than a year earlier.

A large reason for the jump, according to the report, is that mortgage modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) — the Obama administration’s signature foreclosure prevention effort — have dropped significantly. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said that a main problem driving the foreclosure machine is the “inadequacy of loan modification programs”.

For months, it’s been apparent that HAMP and the administration’s other programs designed to keep borrowers in their homes are going to fall woefully short of their goals. HAMP has processed only about 500,000 permanent loan modifications, out of 1.4 million trial modifications that have been initiated. The redefault rate (the number of borrowers who again fall behind on their mortgages, post-modification) for the program is an ugly 21 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that just $12 billion of the $50 billion dedicated to foreclosure prevention will be spent. The Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP, which also oversees HAMP, estimates that at the current rate HAMP will only benefit 700,000 homeowners, far less than the 3-4 million that the Obama administration said would receive aid. “Absent a dramatic and unexpected increase in HAMP enrollment, many billions of dollars set aside for foreclosure mitigation may well be left unused. As a result, an untold number of borrowers may go without help,” the panel said in a report.

There are still plenty of things that can be done to fix HAMP and ensure that the full resources dedicated to foreclosure prevention actually wind up in the hands of homeowners. Here are some recommendations.

Mortgage Bankers Association Stands Against Successful Foreclosure Prevention Efforts

In April 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association — with the help of Congressional Republicans and the rest of the banking industry — successfully lobbied against the adoption of mortgage cram-down legislation, which would have allowed judges to modify mortgages for troubled borrowers in bankruptcy court. That legislation’s defeat, and the MBA’s subsequent celebrations, led Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to say that when it comes to the Senate, the banks, “frankly, own the place.” And with 2010 coming to a close, the MBA is once again standing in opposition to programs aimed at keeping families in their homes — this time by taking aim at what are known as mortgage mediation programs, which push banks to negotiate with borrowers before finalizing a foreclosure:

John Mechem, a spokesman for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which represents the largest mortgage lenders, said the group is opposed to both mandatory and voluntary mediation programs. He argued that the programs are expensive and are often used by borrowers as a tactic to stall foreclosure.

As The Wonk Room explained, with foreclosures on pace to top one million this year and federal foreclosure prevention programs falling woefully short of their goals, mediation has been incredibly successful, as the sessions require lenders to actively negotiate, instead of giving borrowers the run-around. As Christopher Brecciano, a Connecticut attorney who represents borrowers, explained, mediation “requires the borrower to sit eye to eye with the bank’s attorney and means there is someone to hold accountable rather than just some service person on the telephone.” Sixty-two percent of those entering Connecticut’s mediation program received a permanent loan modification, while in Nevada seventy-four percent received one.

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

foreclosure help

Foreclosures Increase As Mortgage Modification Programs Lose Steam

Mortgage Bankers Association Stands Against Successful Foreclosure Prevention Efforts

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