As the focus shifts from the number of loan modification trial plans to the number of completed modifications, the country’s servicers are touting their strong points. MortgageDaily.com has gathered up a number of modification statistics based on national results, activity at financial institutions and modifications by servicer. Also included are statistics on the government-sponsored enterprises.
U.S. mortgage servicers completed 82,432 loan modifications in November, HOPE NOW reported this month. Volume topped October’s 73,190. November activity included 42,707 prime modifications and 39,725 subprime modifications.
During the first nine months of last year, 918,000 modifications were completed, near the 961,000 completed in all of 2008, HOPE NOW said. From July 2007 until November 2009, modifications totaled 2,240,943.
HOPE NOW extrapolated its findings based on data submitted by its 26 member companies who service around 72 percent of all U.S. mortgages.
Between Jan. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009, large national banks and thrifts implemented more than 2.4 million trial modifications, according to data recently reported by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Third-quarter 2009 HAMP trials were 273,913, bringing the life-to-date total to 354,324. Another 121,314 non-HAMP trials were started — 100 percent higher than the second quarter.
But the bank report indicated that more than half of all modified loans became at least 60 days past due within six months of the modification.
Nearly 43,000 HAMP modification had been completed through December on loans guaranteed or owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, their regulator — the Federal Housing Finance Agency — reported today. Active trials totaled 442,500.
October completed modifications declined to 7,044 from September’s 12,460 but edged up from 6,354 in October 2008. Fannie accounted for 3,567 of October’s total, while Freddie completed 3,477.
During 2009, nearly 500,000 borrowers had started a trial modification or completed a modification at Wells Fargo & Co., according to its fourth-quarter 2009 earnings report. HAMP modiciations accounted for 118,708, including 8,424 completed HAMPs.
Bank of America Corp. reported in its fourth-quarter earnings that it provided 260,000 loan modifications on $55 billion in mortgages last year. Around 200,000 borrowers were in HAMP trial modifications as of Dec. 31, with December volume at 34,000. A Jan. 14 news release from BoA indicated that it finished processing and underwriting more than 20,000 files including more than 12,000 that await the return of final signed documents and nearly 3,200 who completed a modification.
During the past two years, BoA reports that it modified 57,000 second liens.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based institutions claims to be “the only bank that has placed more than 200,000 customers into the program through trial modifications,” a news release Tuesday said.
Over at JPMorgan Chase & Co., around 600,000 trial modifications were offered to borrowers last year, according to its fourth-quarter 2009 earnings report. Included in the figure were 120,000 approved modifications and 89,000 permanent modifications.
OneWest Bank, FSB, reported last month that it has initiated 23,378 HAMP trial modifications. In addition, it has completed 857 permanent HAMP modifications, while another 12,912 permanent loan modifications were completed under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s program.
SunTrust Banks Inc. said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that 70 percent of its troubled-debt restructurings are current as the pace of modifications continued.
More than 74 percent of Ocwen Financial Corp.’s HAMP trial modifications have become permanent, a Dec. 10 announcement said. The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based firm “accounts for a disproportionately high 13.5 percent of all permanent modifications completed to date even though it services only 2 percent of the estimated HAMP-eligible 60+ day delinquencies.”
Citigroup Inc. said in a November news release that it had begun trial modifications on 40 percent of its HAMP-eligible borrowers, “the highest proportion of the largest U.S. commercial bank mortgage servicers.”
More than 2,500 North Carolina mortgages have been modified with assistance from the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, which provides a toll-free number for borrowers to call for counseling and legal advice, the News & Observer reported.
Los Angeles-based Operation HOPE claims that its Mortgage HOPE Crisis Hotline has prevented 1,300 foreclosures through loss-mitigation practices including loan modifications.
