HOPE NOW: 5.75M Loan Mods Since 2007, Short Sales Up in August

By: Esther Cho, DSNews

August data from HOPE NOW revealed mortgage servicers gave an estimated 75,968 homeowners permanent loan modifications during the month. In July, total loan modifications was higher at 82,679.
The August modifications include the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which totaled 16,509 in August, and proprietary programs or non-government programs, which accounted for the remaining 59,459 mods for the month.
HOPE NOW, which is the voluntary, private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors, also revealed that since 2007, the industry has seen 5.75 million loan modifications.
“The cumulative efforts of many different parties have made a significant difference in preventing foreclosures where possible,” said Faith Schwartz, HOPE NOW executive director, in a statement. “Without the collaboration of industry, non-profits and our government, we would not have 5.75 million loan modifications for homeowners…”
Of those modifications, about 4.68 million were proprietary loan modifications, while more than 1 million were from HAMP.
From January to August 2012, about 543,705 homeowners have received loan modifications.
Proprietary loan mods that included reduced principal and interest on monthly payments accounted for 82 percent of August’s total, while proprietary mods with reduced principal and interest payments of more than 10 percent accounted for 71 percent of the monthly total.
Short sales continued to help prevent foreclosures, with August seeing nearly 40,000 short sales. In July, there were 36,260 short sales. Since December 2009, short sales numbered 1,013,565.
“The increase of short sales has been significant and, for the first month since reporting on short sales, we estimate a high of 39,559. Short sales provide another tool to avoid the high cost of foreclosure for families, communities and investors,” added Schwartz.
Together, short sales and loan modifications have accounted for 6.77 million non-foreclosure solutions.
HOPE NOW also reported foreclosure sales in August increased 12 percent to 71,149, up from 63,527 in July.
August foreclosure starts were also up, rising 14 percent to 187,941, compared to 164,593 the month before.
Mortgages 60 days or more past due slid down to 2.42 million, falling from 2.47 million the previous month. Delinquency data is based on data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the second quarter of 2012.