HOPE NOW Aided over 100,000 Homeowners in January

HOPE NOW reports that its members completed 78,397 permanent loan modifications during the month of January and 29,244 short sales.  The voluntary, private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and non-profit counselors have now assisted 6.18 million distressed homeowners since 2007.

Of loan modifications completed in January, 63,539 homeowners received proprietary loan modifications and 14,858 received modifications through HAMP, the Home Affordable Modification Program.   Over the life of the program HOPE NOW has completed 5,002,409 proprietary modifications and 1,151,340 HAMP modifications after that program began in the spring of 2009.

For the month of January modifications completed via proprietary loan modifications that included fixed interest rates of five years or more accounted for 88% (55,698) of the total while 48,595 loans or 76 percent included reduced principal and interest payments of more than 10 percent.

The short sales completed in January brought the total accomplished by HOPE NOW to approximately 1,182,283 since December 2009. 

Measures of distress in the market are all declining.  Completed foreclosures sales in January numbered 60,412 compared to 78,734 in January 2012 and foreclosure starts declined 30 percent from one year earlier to 140,482 from 200,447.  Loans that were delinquent for 60 days or more numbered 2.53 million in January 2013 compared to 2.77 million in January 2012, a decline of almost 9 percent.

Eric Selk, Executive Director of HOPE NOW said, "Delinquencies and foreclosure sales have gone down significantly, compared to the same period last year, and that is a testament to the hard work of the industry, aggressive borrower outreach, better financial counseling and the multitude of options available borrowers. HOPE NOW, along with its government and industry partners, has fine-tuned its borrower outreach efforts, to target markets and population segments that benefit the most from the wide range of mortgage services offered.

HOPE NOW said it has already held face-to-face events in two hard hit markets so far this year as well as a special event in New Jersey for victims of Hurricane Sandy.