30,000 Trial HAMP Mods Go Permanent

Of the 1m homeowners who have been offered three-month trial modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), 31,382 have received a permanent modification, according to a report from the US Treasury Department. Under HAMP, the Treasury allocates capped incentives to participating servicers for the modification of loans on the verge of foreclosure. Currently, 76 servicers participate in the program and could collect a potential of $27bn in capped incentives. Servicers have started 759,058 trials since the program launched in March 2009, and 697,026 trials are currently active. How many trials have converted to a permanent modification has been the subject many debates. The Treasury has recently pressed servicers to convert more trials and expects 375,000 permanent modifications by the end of the year. GMAC Mortgage converted 7,111 trial modifications into permanency, the most of any servicer on a gross-volume basis. Active trials and permanent modifications accounted for 39% of GMAC’s eligible portfolio of 67,539 loans – the third highest percentage of all servicers. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) had the second highest amount with 4,302 permanent modifications. Active trials and permanent modifications made up 31% of the 448,815 eligible loans in its portfolio – sixth among servicers. In third, on a gross volume basis, was Ocwen Financial Corp.’s 4,252 permanent modifications. Active and converted trials made up 15% of the 66,351 loans in its portfolio. An executive at Ocwen told HousingWire the company had converted 66% of its HAMP trials into permanency through October. According to the Treasury report, permanent modifications made up 77% of its active trials and 43% of the total amount of trials Ocwen started through November. Saxon Mortgage Services led all servicers on a percentage basis by holding active trials and permanent modifications on 44% of the 80,309 eligible loans in its portfolio. However, Saxon has converted 42 trial modifications into permanency. For the 233,924 eligible loans in CitiMortgage’s portfolio, 43% are either active trials or permanent modifications, the second highest by percentage. Of those, 271 are permanent modifications. Other notable performances include: Bank of America (BAC) has 98 permanent modifications. BofA holds more than 1m loans in its eligible portfolio, the most of any other participating servicer, and 15% of them are active trials or permanent modifications. Wells Fargo (WFC) converted 3,537 trials into a permanent status. It holds 334,949 loans in its eligible portfolio. Of those, 30% are in active trials or are permanent modifications. Wednesday, Congress heard testimony on the health of the program the possibilities of its success. Key among the reasons for HAMP’s small amount of permanent modifications is a lack of documentation. Write to Jon Prior.