After peaking a few months ago, the pace of government loan modifications has slowed considerably. But as servicers weed out ineligible loans, the conversion ratio continues to improve.
Servicers approved for the Home Affordable Modification program completed 32,606 modifications under the plan during July, sinking from the 48,739 completed in June, based on an analysis of data reported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The high for the program came in April 2010, when 67,426 modifications were completed.
From October 2009 through July, 421,804 HAMPÂ modifications have been completed.
The Treasury said 1,456,363 borrowers were eligible for HAMP as of July. The total excludes government mortgages, loans that are less than 60 days delinquent and loans on vacant properties. It also excludes investor properties and borrowers who don’t meet debt-to-income ratio requirements.
As a share of eligible borrowers, servicers have completed modifications on 29 percent of eligible borrowers. That share jumped from 24 percent in June as the number of qualified borrower has diminished.
With 4,098 completed modifications last month Bank of America, N.A., had higher volume than any HAMP servicer. BofA’s total sank, however, from 9,263 in June.
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., came in second, with completed HAMPs falling to 3,767 from 7,255. No. 3 CitiMortgage Inc. saw activity decline to 3,463 in July from 6,138, while OneWest Bank eased to 2,634 from June’s 2,708. GMAC Mortgage Inc. ranked fifth with 2,131 completed HAMP modifications last month, falling from 4,383.
Since the government program began, BofA has completed 76,330 modifications, the most of any servicer. J.P. Morgan followed with 58,489, then Wells Fargo’s 46,732, CitiMortgage’s 44,276 and GMAC’s 29,636.
As a share of eligible borrowers, the Treasury data indicate that GMAC has completed HAMPÂ modifications on 177 percent of its eligible borrowers. A Treasury spokeswoman attempted to clarify the discrepancy in a statement to MortgageDaily.com.
“‘Eligible’ population is for that point in time while the ‘offer’ and ‘modification’ columns are cumulative,” she said. “As people’s life situations change, and GMAC’s book of business changes, new homeowners flow into and out of the ‘eligible’ population.”
Behind GMAC was Select Portfolio Servicing, which has reportedly converted 91 percent of its eligible borrowers. Carrington Mortgage Services followed with 60 percent, then U.S. Bank’s 57 percent, Ocwen Financial Corp. Inc.’s 55 percent and Nationstar Mortgage LLC’s 52 percent.
The Treasury data also indicated that Morgan Stanley subsidiary Saxon Mortgage Services went from 11,784 completed modifications since the program’s inception as of May to 10,535 HAMPs completed as of June. The Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on Saxon’s reported numbers and referred inquiries to the company.
Morgan Stanley didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification.
