HOPE NOW Reports February Modifications and Foreclosures Down

By: Esther Cho 04/02/2012

HOPE NOW, a private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and non-profit counselors, estimated 45,000 homeowners received permanent, non-HAMP loan modifications from mortgage servicers during February 2012, down from 56,000, or 20 percent, compared to the month before in January.

While modifications were down, foreclosure sales and foreclosure starts also declined on a month-over-month basis, with 69,000 foreclosure sales and 167,000 foreclosure starts in February, compared to 79,000 sales, a 12 percent drop, and 200,000 starts, a 17 percent drop, in January.

Loans 60 days or more delinquent dropped from 2.77 million in January to 2.66 million in February, a 4 percent decrease.

“There are many moving parts in the foreclosure prevention process and we anticipate that one month will not define any significant trends,” said Faith Schwartz, executive director of HOPE NOW, in a statement. “However, one of our key data points showed that we saw a decline in the total number of serious delinquencies – loans that are 60 or more days past due – for February.”

Since 2007, approximately 5.33 million permanent solutions have been offered to homeowners across the country.

Also, loan modifications with reduced principal and interest payments accounted for approximately 82 percent, or 36,000, of all non-government modifications.

Loan modifications with reduced principal and interest payments of 10 percent or greater accounted for approximately 75 percent, or 34,000, of all proprietary modifications.
Fixed-rate modifications made up about 90 percent, or 40,000, of all proprietary modifications.

So far for 2012, HOPE NOW has hosted almost 7,200 homeowners at events in Charlotte, Miami, Tampa, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. These markets represent some of the hardest hit areas of the country. In April, events are planned for Chicago and Indianapolis.