Servicers of residential loans granted borrowers more favorable terms on their mortgages than on their original contracts at a pace that was the strongest in four months.
When the first month of this year concluded, mortgages servicers had completed 29,371 loan modifications.
It was the most since September 2016, when there were 30,799.
Volume — including modifications completed through proprietary programs and the Home Affordable Modification Program — totaled 28,550 in the final month of last year.
In January 2016, there were
a previously reported 26,648 modifications completed.
The findings were derived from data collected by HOPE NOW,
a voluntary private-sector alliance of servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors.
January 2017’s activity included 19,850 modifications completed through lenders’ own proprietary programs. Proprietary production rose from 19,088 a month earlier
and 19,032 a year earlier.
Another 9,521 of the most-recent modifications were completed through HAMP, up from December 2016’s 9,462
and the January 2016 total of 7,616.
There have been 1,692,633 HAMP modifications completed since tracking began in July 2007.