FreeDIYkits Loan Modification Blog

The Obama administration is facing increasing pressure from lawmakers and housing advocates to retool its troubled mortgage relief program a year after its debut as the housing crisis continues to deepen and spreads to more creditworthy borrowers.

The $75 billion program pays lenders to modify the mortgages of troubled borrowers, typically lowering their payments by about $500 a month.

But so far, fewer than 200,000 borrowers have received a permanent change to their loans, according to Treasury Department data released Wednesday, a small fraction of the 3 to 4 million borrowers who government regulators initially said the program could help before it expires in 2012. That may not bode well for efforts to stabilize the housing market. Credit Suisse has estimated that 3.2 million foreclosures would have to be prevented this year for home prices to rise modestly.

“Clearly the numbers that were discussed by the administration set up an expectation that just don’t deal with the reality we’re in,” said John Courson, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Administration officials have acknowledged that the program, known as Making Home Affordable, got off to a slow start and has yet to reach its full potential. Many lenders didn’t begin enrolling borrowers until last summer, months after the program was launched. By then, the primary cause of foreclosures had shifted from the risky mortgages that helped spur the financial crisis to rising unemployment. The latter is tougher to address because jobless borrowers often have little money with which to pay any type of home loan.

Through January, nearly a million borrowers had gotten at least some reduction in their mortgage payments as part of the program, but more than three-quarters have yet to win a permanent modification and must still prove they qualify, according to Treasury data. The program “is doing the job it was designed to do, Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury’s Homeownership Preservation Office, said in a statement. “Struggling families are receiving payment relief and the housing market is showing signs of stabilization.”

The Obama Loan Modification or Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan offers protection and hope to billions of homeowners. Before you apply for a mortgage modification make sure you understand what protection is offered.

Full Disclosure:
When either just describing or encouraging loan modification, the servicer shall give the debtor information that will aid them in understanding the terms of the modification and the process of modification, and debtors should also be given written information about the costs, terms, and risks of modification that is clear and concise. This should be given in a timely manner as to allow debtors to make an informed decision.

Fair Lending:
Modifications under the plan must abide by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act, both of which do not allow discrimination on a prohibited basis connecting to mortgage transactions. Loan modification plans are subject to fair lending laws, and both servicers and lenders should make sure debtors are being treated equally when it comes to mortgage modification.

Consumer Complaints and Questions:
Servicers should have a system to answer complaints and questions regarding loan modification timely and appropriately, and that every question and complaint is taken seriously and answered appropriately.
This protection will ensure that you and your family are not treated unfairly and can receive the full benefits a mortgage modification.

Do borrowers taking part in the Obama administration’s mortgage modification program deserve a black mark on their credit records?

Lenders use special codes to let credit bureaus know what customers are borrowing and whether they’re paying on time. When the loan modification program, which lowers mortgage payments for homeowners who are behind in their payments or in danger of imminent default, was announced in February, lenders used an existing code, called AC, to signal that borrowers were participating in the program.

The problem for those borrowers, however, was the fact that the AC code signals that a consumer has made only a partial payment. That often had a significant impact on the scores of borrowers with good credit who had made all of their payments on time. A Treasury Department spokeswoman estimated that their scores could fall from 30 to 100 points, depending on other information in their credit file .

Why use an old code? The AC code was the closest fit, so the Consumer Data Industry Association recommended using it until it could develop a new one.

One Bank of America executive, for instance, confirmed in this recent New York Times article, that it reported borrowers who made timely payments before and after agreeing to loan modifications as making only partial payments. Presumably, the bank used the AC code, which damaged the credit of many borrowers.

The Obama refinance plan was created to help home owners lock into a low mortgage interest rate. The Making Home Affordable plan is designed to help homeowners stay in their home and avoid foreclosure. An easy way to lower your monthly mortgage payment is to refinance your current home loan to a lower mortgage interest rate. This could save you several hundred dollars a month.
If you have a decent credit score and you have equity in your home then there is a good chance that you can refinance to a much lower mortgage interest rate. It is extremely important that you have some equity in your home. Many people have tried to refinance and they have found that their home value is much lower than they expected. This is causing it to be very difficult to get through the refinance appraisal step.

It is also extremely important that you have a credit score of 680 or better to get a very low mortgage interest rate. If you have bad credit and little equity in your home then you might want to consider the home loan modification process because it is not likely you can refinance to the advertised low mortgage rates. For more information on the home loan modification option make sure to check out the Making Home Affordable website.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today kick off a nationwide campaign to help borrowers who are currently in the trial phase of their modified mortgages under the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) convert to permanent modifications. The modification program, which has helped over 650,000 borrowers, is part of the Administration’s broader commitment to stabilize housing markets and to provide relief to struggling homeowners and is a primary focus of financial stability efforts moving forward. Roughly 375,000 of the borrowers who have begun trial modifications since the start of the program are scheduled to convert to permanent modifications by the end of the year. Through the efforts being announced today, Treasury and HUD will implement new outreach tools and borrower resources to help convert as many trial modifications as possible to permanent ones.

The Obama plan includes tools to modify existing bad loans, reports Bill Plante, but economist Mark Zandi tells Harry Smith there may not be enough money to end foreclosures.

The Obama Administration is gearing up to play hardball with mortgage companies that only temporarily lower struggling homeowners’ monthly payments. But as the drive to make more loan modifications permanent kicks off, there’s a weightier question to ask: Can the government’s $50 billion foreclosure-prevention initiative deal with the crisis as it now exists?

Many homeowners were excited to find out about the making home affordable home loan modification program back in February and March. The idea the program was to allow homeowners to lower their monthly mortgage payment to less than 31% of their household monthly income. Unfortunately, this process takes a great amount of paperwork and it is becoming very difficult for lenders and borrowers to understand.

The Obama administration plans to announce on Monday efforts to step up pressure on lenders participating in its massive foreclosure prevention program in a push for transparency that should provide new details about the industry’s performance.

It is important to understand who is the true “owner” of the mortgage. The institution you make your mortgage payment to is typically a servicing company. They collect payments on behalf of an investor, who has the ultimate say in whether a loan will be eligible for modification assistance.