Archive for the 'Loan Modification' Category
Sate Pulls Reedevelopment Funds; Gets Sued…
November 9th, 2009 Categories: Loan Modification, Real Estate News, Sacramento Economy
The state’s decision to pull redevelopment funds to solve its budget problems is effecting redevelopment plans in cities throughout the region.
For the second time in Less than two years, California Redevelopment Association has filed a lawsuit against the state over the states plan to take more than $2 billion from the state’s redevelopment agencies to balance the budget.
Redevelopment money is the engine of local economies – getting the ball rolling on big and small projects.
Local Communities will pay the price in terms of lost jobs and community vitality. Kevin Payne, assistant planning and redevelopment director for the city of Roseville Stated in a SacBee article lately “The issue that I see with the state taking our funding is basically, it’s not constitutional,” Payne said, “and it’s really taking opportunity away … to create jobs, housing and a better physical environment overall.”
.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Sacramento Trustee Sale Postponements and Face to Face Requirements
November 9th, 2009 Categories: Default News, Loan Modification, Pre Foreclosures, Real Estate News, Sacramento Foreclosures, Sacramento Real Estate Trends, Shortsales
Sacramento Trustee Sales Report
Foreclosure Solution Expert Report
I was visiting with a good friend the other day who attends the Sacramento trustee Sales downtown (Yes, they really have a live auction, some days there are three separate sales going on simultaneously at 720 9TH ST; downtown Sacramento) he said he is still seeing more than 7 out of ten sales being postponed. For some reason or another banks and serivcers are pretty much imposing their own foreclosure moratorium, at least here in Sacramento County.
I am a Home Retention Counselor with Titanium solutions and the assignments have been picking up. I used to get one or so a week, but lately have been getting at least five assignments a week, even though I only cover four Zip Codes with Titanium. Titanium Solutions contracts with loss mitigation departments to contact homeowners who for some reason or another have fallen out of touch with their servicer.
In almost every case, the homeowner has at one time either started a loan modification,agreed to look into a loan modification or they have short sale file started and then had somehow fallen out of contact with the right department at the bank. That’s where Titanium comes in– I will go knock on the door, leave a note, look up past phone numbers etc., and normally I am successful at getting the homeowners back in touch with the bank.
Lately though, I have run across situations where the homeowner has been in touch with the bank and working diligently either on a short sale or a loan modification. I talked to a lady in Folsom the other day who had just hung up the phone with her servicer about a half hour before I showed up. Her file was perfect, needed no updating and was in review. Another evening last week in Granite bay, I sat down with homeowners who had a short sale file in and being negotiated and was supposed to have a short sale approval letter that week,
It makes me wonder, why are these servicers doing that?
In my research for an answer, I came across information that suggests that the major banks, who have still got TARP money are being pressured to make some kind of FACE TO FACE contact with their borrowers before they can use foreclosure as a means of recovery.
So by having it documented that a bank representative has come by face to face, the banks now have the foreclosure solution available to them, should the short sale or loan modification fail. (the Titanium Script that I must use with borrowers clearly states that I am a representative of their servicer and a debt collecter and that any information gathered will be used for that purpose).
Could that perhaps have anything to do with the Sacramento Trustee Sale Postponements? Are the two related in any way or just coincidence?
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Fannie Mae / California Firm Says Delinquency Rates Up
October 30th, 2009 Categories: Graphs and Charts, Loan Modification, Mortgage and Loans, Pre Foreclosures, Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends
Last Month’ 9129/09 from Calculated Risk;
Fannie Mae reported that the serious delinquency rate for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.17 percent in July, up from 3.94 percent in June – and up from 1.45% in July 2008.
“Includes seriously delinquent conventional single-family loans as a percent of the total number of conventional single-family loans. These rates are based on conventional single-family mortgage loans and exclude reverse mortgages and non-Fannie Mae mortgage securities held in our portfolio.”
Just more evidence of some shadow inventory and the next wave of foreclosures.
Update: These stats include loans in trial modifications.
Than today from Chris Mcglaughlin;
According a report from California-based real estate market consulting firm Foresight Analytics, total delinquencies for first-lien residential mortgages grew to an estimated 11% during Q309. The final figures for the third quarter are not due until the end of November, but Foresight’s report bases its data on earnings reports and call report filings from banks. Residential delinquencies increased from 10.2% in Q209 and from 6.4% from the second quarter of 2008, according to the report. The delinquency rate rose approximately 1% every quarter since the Q108, except for a quick blip in Q408. “We have been expecting the rate of increase to slow, but clearly this has not yet occurred,” said the report.
Nonaccrual rates for residential mortgages also jumped to 4.7% in Q309 from 3.8% in the previous quarter, and delinquencies in commercial mortgages also ballooned for the quarter. The rate hiked to 4.7% in Q309 from 4.1% in the previous quarter and more than doubled the 2.1% rate a year ago, according to the report. “The delinquency rate has been increasing at an accelerated rate since Lehman Brothers’ collapse in September 2008 and the ensuing severe credit crunch and economic downturn.” The delinquency rate in commercial loans is still well below the 8% delinquency rate in the third quarter of 1991, but the rate still worries analysts in light of a weak economy, constricted credit availability and a large number of commercial mortgages coming due the next few years.
| Discussion: No Comments »
California Campaign Targets Loan Modification Scams
October 29th, 2009 Categories: Foreclosure Rescue Scams, Loan Modification, Real Estate News, Real Estate Trends
LATIMES: A national housing nonprofit has launched an education campaign in Southern California to combat scams targeting homeowners in peril of foreclosure.
Loan modification fraud is on the rise, costing troubled homeowners thousands of dollars up front for mediation and counseling services that are provided free by federally approved nonprofits, Eileen Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of NeighborWorks America, said Monday at a news conference on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.
Washington-based NeighborWorks is starting its yearlong national education effort in Southern California because the region has been hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis, she said.
Troubled borrowers often pay fees ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 for help in reducing their mortgage payments, Fitzgerald said. The companies, in turn, promise to negotiate with their lenders on their behalf. In some cases the companies promise that loan amounts will be modified, a result that is difficult and rare, she said.
In addition to money paid to unscrupulous companies, those facing foreclosure can lose precious months that could be better spent with federally approved nonprofit counselors who don’t charge for their services, Fitzgerald said.
Poorly informed homeowners desperate for help turn to loan modification consultants — who often are attorneys, mortgage brokers or real estate agents — advertising on radio and television and in print.
“They are very good marketers,” Fitzgerald said.
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s office has reported receiving more than 2,500 complaints against loan modification consultants and businesses through Oct. 14 of this year, up from 163 in all of 2008.
Seniors, Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans have been particularly victimized and will be a focus of the education campaign, Fitzgerald said.
For the next three weeks, community organizers and volunteers with NeighborWorks and its local affiliate, Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, will be distributing marketing materials to warn people about loan modification fraud. The first stop Monday was the WorkSource center in Sun Valley.
“Many of these families believe they have nowhere to turn, nowhere to go for help or assistance,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at the news conference.
In April, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance imposing penalties on companies that charge for such services.
Zulma Navarrete said that over the last year she had bad experiences with two loan modification companies.
The 36-year-old native of Guatemala, speaking in Spanish at the news conference, said the first company charged her about $2,000, and the second, a law firm, charged her $3,495. Neither has persuaded the lender to reduce the $2,900 monthly payment on her three-bedroom Huntington Park home.
Navarrete said she got her money back from the first company but not from the law firm.
“I was robbed,” she said. “And I want my money returned.”
| Discussion: No Comments »
New Loan Modification Law May Shut Down Many Sacramento Loan Mod Shops
October 28th, 2009 Categories: Foreclosure Rescue Scams, Loan Modification, Mortgage and Loans, Sacramento Real Estate
Effective immediately, SB 94, which became effective Oct. 11, will ensure anyone selling loan modification services will take money only after they do what they have promised. Also they must advise potential customers that they can actually negotiate a modification with their lender on their own or obtain help free of charge from nonprofit counseling agencies that are pre-approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The law includes penalties up to $10,000 and up to a year in jail for violation of the law for an individual and a fine of up to $50,000 for a corporation.
Consumer advocates called the law “a step in the right direction,” but say more needs to be done to make loan modifications easier to accomplish in order to reduce the frustration that leads homeowners to hire the unscrupulous.
No Telling exactly how Sacramento areaq Modification shops are dealing with the law… It’s too early to tell.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Treasury Department Issues Guidelines Reinforcing Compliance with Fair Lending When Modifying Mortgages
October 28th, 2009 Categories: Loan Modification, Mortgage and Loans, National Real Estate Trends, Real Estate News
MINNEAPOLIS–(Business Wire)–
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced today the company has expanded its comprehensive Loss Mitigation Service to include fair lending compliance consulting. The company`s experts with strong experience and knowledge in helping financial institutions avoid discriminatory lending practices can now be deployed on-site at mortgage servicers to help them meet all state and federal fair lending requirements when modifying loans for distressed borrowers.
As U.S. mortgage servicers ramp up their loan modification efforts to help slow the exploding number of home foreclosures, the primary focus on doing so is mitigating financial losses for both the financial institution and borrower. However, the Treasury Department recently issued guidelines reinforcing the importance of compliance with fair lending requirements when modifying loans within its Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services` compliance consultants can evaluate a
servicer`s loan modification policies and procedures to help determine how they can address fair lending risks more thoroughly and rapidly. Next, they can review a representative sample of loan modifications the servicer has completed and denied to determine if any disparate treatment of borrowers exists. And inally, the consultants can conduct a statistical analysis of all completed modifications and denied applications, identifying certain modification criteria that might lead the servicer to violate fair lending laws.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is also offering financial institutions a free
Webinar on how to prevent discrimination in the loan modification process and mitigate associated fair lending risk on Nov. 12.
“While modifying loans at risk of default as quickly as possible is paramount
for servicers and their borrowers, so is making sure everyone is treated fairly and equally in the process,” said Don Morrow, Ph.D., senior consultant and statistician, for Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. “Regulators have put forth notice they`ll intensify their scrutiny of servicers` fair lending compliance.”
“Wolters Kluwer Financial Services` fair lending compliance experts possess
decades of experience analyzing loan data. They have the skills and knowledge necessary to help servicers begin addressing emerging fair lending concerns immediately,” said Kurt Sames, vice president and general manager of Consumer Compliance for the company.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Loss Mitigation Service also helps servicers ensure compliance with requirements surrounding various loan modification rograms, including the government`s Home Affordability Refinance Program (HARP), HAMP and HOPE for Homeowners programs, and meet Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines, through its expansive library of mortgage compliance documents. In addition, the company can help servicers make the settlement process easier and faster through a complete,
online suite of settlement services. And Wolters Kluwer Financial Services can elp servicers record loan modification packages within any U.S. jurisdiction through a partnership with CT Lien Solutions, another Wolters Kluwer company.
For more information on Wolters Kluwer Financial Services` fair lending
consulting services tied to loan modifications, visit ww.pciwiz.com/consulting/loanmodifications.asp. For more information on the company`s comprehensive Loss Mitigation Service, visit it`s Loss Mitigation Resource Center at www.WoltersKluwerFS.com/LossMit.
About Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services provides best-in-class compliance, content, and technology solutions and services that help financial organizations manage risk and improve efficiency and effectiveness across their enterprise. The organization`s prominent brands include Bankers Systems, VMP Mortgage Solutions, PCi, AppOne, GainsKeeper, Capital Changes, NILS, AuthenticWeb and Uniform Forms.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is part of Wolters Kluwer, a leading global
information services and publishing company with annual revenues of (2008) €3.4
billion ($4.9 billion) and approximately 20,000 employees worldwide. Please
visit our Web site for more information.
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
Jennifer Marso, 612-852-7912
Director of Corporate Communications
Jennifer.marso@wolterskluwer.com
On Twitter: @JenniferMarso
or
Charles Miller, 320-240-5457
Senior Public Relations Specialist
Charles.miller@wolterskluwer.com
On Twitter: @CharlesWMiller
Copyright Business Wire 2009
| Discussion: No Comments »
Loan modifications, foreclosure prevention not moving fast enough…
October 21st, 2009 Categories: Default News, Loan Modification, Real Estate News
The numbers just keep piling up, servicers have been moving so slow and inefficiently for so long, the problem has just become too big for them to get a handle on.
What gets me is that even though there are over 500,000 loan modifications now started through the administrations HAMP program, less than 1% of the loan modifications that have been finalized through the system have seen any principle reduction– so why do it? If you are still going to be on the hook for $500,000 for your home that is now worth $310,000, how long will it be until you can sell tht home and not affect your credit? if the market were to quit going down tomorrow and started gaining at a more historically normal 3–5% annually how long would it take to get back above water? 20 years?
Here are some great articles that help zero in on this moving target:
TARP Watchdogs Say Government’s Not Doing Enough to Stop Foreclosures
| Discussion: No Comments »
BofA Suffers Huge Loss- More Foreclosures…
October 19th, 2009 Categories: Loan Modification, Mortgage and Loans, Real Estate Trends, Sacramento Real Estate, Sacramento Real Estate Trends
Bank of America (BOA) announced today that it suffered a $2.2 billion loss in the third-quarter quarter. Contributing to that was a $1.2 billion dividend payment to its preferred shareholders, including the U.S. government, credit losses within some of its consumer-related businesses, and $402 million after it agreed to eliminate a loss-sharing agreement it had struck with the government earlier this year. “Obviously, credit costs remain high, and that is our major financial challenge going forward.” Most of this quarter’s losses were in Bank of America’s mortgage and credit card businesses, which together lost more than $1 billion during the July-September period.
BOA funded $95.7 billion in first mortgages, selling purchase or refinance loans to nearly 450,000 borrowers, including $23.3bn in mortgages to 154,000 low- and moderate-income borrowers during the quarter. About 39% of all the first mortgages were for purchases. Year-to-date at the end of Q309, BOA modified the mortgages of approximately 215,000 customers, and an additional 98,000 BOA mortgage customers are in the trial stage of a Making Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) workout. The overall results were slightly worse than Wall Street was expecting. Analysts had anticipated that the company would suffer a loss of 21 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters, but in fact lost 26 cents a share.
Foreclosures up
Since government intervention began in September 2008, foreclosure sales remain stunted, dropping 8.6% from the previous month and 40.6% from a year ago. But the percentage of foreclosures sold to third parties, who are usually investors, grew by 215% from last year and 3.27% from August, according to ForeclosureRadar’s monthly foreclosure report. Arizona leads all states with an increase of filings by 36.1% in September, followed by Florida (29.6%), Texas (24.3%), and Michigan (18.22%). Filings in California increased only 1.08% in September, but the volume has grown by 123% from last year.
Urban areas were hit hardest and spurred the increases. In Arizona, the statewide increase was fueled by a massive 81.3% increase in Phoenix foreclosures. Foreclosures in Las Vegas jumped 47.4%; Atlanta had a 39.9% increase; Chicago’s rates climbed 36.2%; and Houston had a 33.2% spike in foreclosures, according to ForeclosureListings.com. RealtyTrac says foreclosure filings in Q309 increased to a level unseen since it began reporting the figures in January of 2005.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Can’t Belive They Did It! Industry Celebrates 500,000th HAMP Mortgage Modification!
October 9th, 2009 Categories: Default News, Loan Modification, Pre Foreclosures, Real Estate News
Another great article form DSNews. Can you really believe it though? 500,000 HAMP Mortgage Modification Starts… How did they go from 360,165 to 500,000 in just over 30 days?? Check out this article in Yahoo finance rom just a few days ago!
From Default News:
In a rare show of solidarity, federal regulators, lenders and servicers united this week to celebrate an announcement by the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development that 500,000 troubled home loans had been modified under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.
“This announcement shows the industry is working hard to help borrowers who want to stay in their home and have the means to pay their mortgage, keep their homes,” said David G. Kittle, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Faith Schwartz, the executive director of HOPE NOW, an advocacy group for servicers, also praised the 500,000 mark as “great news for consumers, homeownership and the economy in general.”
The “milestone” – disclosed along with the Treasury’s and HUD’s Monthly MHA Program Report, which tracked servicer performance through Sept. 30 – was praised as a sign that the plan to mitigate foreclosures is finally gaining traction with the public, as well as with lenders and servicers.
Under the program, eligible borrowers who are behind in their mortgage payments or in immediate risk of default could apply for a monthly payment reduction. Those modifications must be paid off on time for a trial period of three months before the mortgage is permanently modified.
But a major sticking point for the program has been the willingness of lenders and servicers to make favorable modifications, and the pace of their work. Last July, the Obama administration “pushed servicers to ramp up program implementation and sustain a faster pace of modifications” by mandating a minimum of 500,000 trial mods by Nov. 1. Thursday’s announcement meant that mark had been met a month early.
“Trial modifications are now being issued at a faster rate than new homeowners are becoming eligible,” the Treasury said in a statement. But Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the number of homeowners at risk was still “unacceptably large.”
“The Administration believes that more can and should be done to assist struggling homeowners and to stabilize the housing market,” the Treasury said.
As part of a continued effort to improve program performance, senior Treasury and HUD officials held one of a series of meetings with servicers Thursday afternoon, to discuss ways of improving servicer efficiency and responsiveness to borrowers during the modification process.
That meeting also reflected continued concerns that the modifications won’t yield favorable economic results. “Many borrowers who are successfully making trial payments haven’t submitted any of the required documents, or have provided only some of the material,” The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Schwartz said servicers would work with the government to shore up those concerns, and she already had some suggestions on how to proceed. “HOPE NOW is also pleased that Treasury is taking steps to streamline the HAMP modification process making it easier for consumers and servicers alike,” she said. “A common application form and a reduction in paperwork will help servicer efficiency and create a more positive experience for homeowners.”
Kittle, too, said the MBA wanted to work with the government, particularly to help homeowners who didn’t qualify for HAMP modifications.
“Nobody benefits from a foreclosure and it has always been in the servicer’s best interest to work with the borrower to find the best solution for their individual situation,” he said
| Discussion: No Comments »
New Housing Crash Looms as Shadow Inventory Climbs past 7 Million: Analysts
October 7th, 2009 Categories: Default News, Loan Modification, National Real Estate Trends, Real Estate Trends
Did you dee this?
The housing crash is about to come back with a vengeance, as 7 million new foreclosure properties are about to hit the market, analysts at Amherst Securities Group LP said this week.
The New York-based mortgage-bond analysts called that number – which is about five-and-a-half times larger than 2005’s national tally of delinquencies and foreclosures – a “huge shadow inventory” that threatens to further destabilize a housing market that had shown signs of righting itself over the summer.
Despite some recent optimism, many market observers now agree on several factors that are expanding the nation’s shadow inventory. Loan modifications, legal wrangling, redefaults and bank practices have delayed foreclosures while actually worsening many homeowners’ positions.
As a result, the analysts say a so-far undisclosed glut of homes is about to come to light, and it’s likely to further depress values and sales.
“There’s going to be a flood [of bank-owned homes] listed for sale at some point,” John Burns, a real-estate consultant based in Irvine, California, told the Wall Street Journal this week. He expects prices to decline another 6 percent this year. The analysts at Amherst predicted an 8 percent drop, while a Sept. 11 report by Barclays forecasted a further 13 percent drop, saying the worst of the crash is “decidedly underway,” with increased foreclosures sapping “the strength of the recovery in all but the most optimistic of scenarios.”
One cause of the problem, the Journal says, is unintended fallout from “well-meaning efforts to keep families in their homes.” Foreclosures have been stalled by state moratoriums, as well as by lenders and servicers who are using the time to determine if troubled borrowers are eligible for loan modifications.
“We are going to see a spike from now to the end of the year in foreclosures as we take people out of the running” for modifications or other alternatives to foreclosing, a Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman told the Journal, adding that government pressure to stem foreclosures had reduced their foreclosure sales to “abnormally low” levels.
But as many proposed modifications result in higher monthly payments or other terms the borrowers don’t like, more potential foreclosures are getting held up in court, too. That’s what happened to Debra and Arthur Scriven of Columbia, South Carolina, who told the Journal that Citigroup had attempted to foreclose on them 15 months ago. Since then, the lender offered a modification they felt was unfair, and their situation has stalled as they await a date for a hearing in foreclosure court.
But evidence is mounting that even when modifications are successfully written, the likelihood of a borrower defaulting again – and heading for foreclosure again – is alarmingly high. That’s because even a significant reduction in interest or principal can’t save a homeowner who’s underwater or overleveraged. Modifications have made “not much” of a difference in the shadow inventory, the Amherst analysts’ report said. “And many of these borrowers would default later, if they remain in a negative equity position,” they added.
Banks, too, are contributing to the shadow inventory problem. Fearful of the added costs of acquiring foreclosure properties and trying to sell them, many banks have simply declined to foreclose on some of their most non-performing borrowers. According to a report by LPS Applied Statistics, banks hadn’t even begun the foreclosure process on 1.2 million properties that are 90 days or more past due. In July, 217,000 mortgages that hadn’t seen a payment in a year still weren’t being foreclosed on – a number that’s more than doubled since last year.
Lenders have also scaled back their bidding at the public auctions and trustee sales that usually precede a bank foreclosure. That’s letting outside investors pick up the properties at a deep discount: According to the research firm ForeclosureRadar.com, 19 percent of homes sold in August in California trustee sales went to investors and not lenders – a 500 percent increase in the past year.
What this all means, the Amherst analysts say, is that the shadow inventory will soon eclipse the economy’s recent sunny outlook.
“The favorable seasonals will disappear over the coming months, and the reality of a 7 million-unit housing overhang is likely to set in,” they said
| Discussion: No Comments »
