Treasury Withholds HAMP Funds From BofA, Chase AGAIN

Comment from Mike: I can attest that Bank of America SUCKS at doing loan modifications! They are one of the WORST. They are always losing people's paperwork, asking them to send it in again and again.

 

A slight rise in July mortgage delinquencies underscores ongoing fragility in the nation's housing market, the Obama administration said Thursday in its August Housing Scorecard Report.
The Treasury Department said economic data is mixed with the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index rising for a third consecutive month in July, while mortgage delinquencies grew slightly, suggesting a weak foundation for significant growth.
During July, 404,000 distressed borrowers received some type of counseling, with 10.9 million borrowers underwater, or owing more than the property is worth, nationwide, according to August scorecard. Furthermore, the government cited statistics showing prime mortgages have a delinquency rate of 4.5%, compared to 33.2% among subprime loans and 12.2% for FHA loans. About 3.65 million existing homes were on the sales block. Mortgage rates during the period averaged 4.22%, down from 4.36% a year earlier.
While mortgage aid programs pushed the number of foreclosure starts and completions down, the administration's housing scorecard said declining foreclosure activity is partly tied to lender processing issues slowing the default process down.
The report said while federal efforts have improved the performances of mortgage servicers, the administration recognizes a need to keep pressure on servicers to reach solutions for troubled borrowers.
"These assessments provide an unprecedented level of information about servicer performance and are designed to help more eligible homeowners walk away from this process with better results," said Tim Massad, assistant secretary for financial stability at the Treasury.
In July, more than 28,000 homeowners received a permanent loan modification through the government's Home Affordable Modification Program. To date, about 790,000 homeowners have received a HAMP modification with the medium payment reduction in the range of 37%.
Write to: Kerri Panchuk.

Full article here.

Chase Bank Halting Foreclosures in 23 States - CALIFORNIA IS NOT ONE OF THEM

Diana Olick CNBC

Article link here

JPMorgan Chase has announced it will re-examine documents filed in current foreclosure cases.

The review could affect at least 56,000 foreclosures. JPMorgan Chase is the third largest mortgage servicer in the nation, with $1.35 trillion in business and a 12.6 percent market share, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

"It has come to our attention that in some cases employees in our mortgage foreclosure operations may have signed affidavits about loan documents on the basis of file reviews done by other personnel—without the signer personally having reviewed those loan files," says JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly.

In the meantime, the company has requested that the courts not enter judgments in pending matters until the review is complete, a process they say should take a couple weeks.

"We believe the accuracy of the factual loan information contained in the affidavits was not affected by whether or not the signer had personal knowledge of the precise details," Kelly adds.

About 7.5 percent of total Chase servicing is either three months or more in default or in foreclosures, "which translates to about half a million borrowers either already in foreclosure or heading towards foreclosure," says Guy Cecala, CEO and publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance.