Loan Modification Success Said to be Overlooked

Loan Modification Success Said to be Overlooked
A report from the voluntary, mortgage industry-driven Hope Now program says the mortgage industry has assisted 2.7 million homeowners in 2009 with mortgage modifications or repayment plans outside of the federal programs.

The statement released Wednesday lacked many details about what kind of help servicers were offering. "What are the circumstances?" asks economist Joel Naroff, with Naroff Economic Advisors. "It's a large number, but they're probably not helping a lot of people who we'd think of as getting a modification. They might just be rewriting a mortgage to more of a fixed rate."

The Executive Director of Hope Now Faith Schwartz says industry efforts to solve the foreclosure problem are significant. "We've got to talk about what else is going on in the market. That's the bigger picture," she says.

Source: USA Today, Stephanie Armour (12/03/2009)