The July Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) shows that foreclosure starts are on the rise, with seriously delinquent loans—those six or more months delinquent—dominating new foreclosure actions. The increase in foreclosure starts is consistent with the Department of Treasury's latest report that approximately half of all Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) trial modifications resulted in cancellation, though 45.4 percent of those have resulted in alternative (non-HAMP) modifications.Read more

HOPE NOW, the private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors estimates the industry has completed 1.13 million permanent loan modifications for at-risk homeowners so far in 2010. For the month of July, the data shows the industry completed more than 120,000 proprietary loan modifications for homeowners, which closely matched the number from the previous month. As reported by U.S. Treasury Department, mortgage servicers also completed 36,695 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications in July.Read more

RiskSpan Inc. has announced that it has hired Allen H. Jones as managing director of its federal services consulting practice in Washington, D.C. Jones most recently served as Bank of America's (BOA) government lending executive where he managed the transition and integration of Countrywide under the BOA umbrella. He was subsequently named BOA's executive for default management public policy and national outreach.Read more

Chase has announced that it has offered more than 900,000 mortgage modifications to struggling homeowners since the beginning of 2009 through a wide range of government and Chase initiatives to address the housing crisis. "We have worked directly with homeowners as the economy has hit them far deeper and for far longer than they expected," said Charlie Scharf, head of retail financial services at Chase. "We continue to look for creative and effective ways to help them stay in their homes, whenever possible."Read more

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have released the August edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard, a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. In July, housing prices remained level after 30 straight months of decline, while some price predictions have improved. In addition, historic low interest rates continued to promote home affordability and refinancing options for the nation’s families.Read more

The New York State Banking Department has issued new regulations that address the business practices of mortgage loan servicers and establish additional consumer protections for homeowners. Part 419 of the Superintendent’s Regulations, which go into effect Oct. 1, 2010, are a follow-up to the adoption of Part 418 in July 2009, which established standards and procedures for the registration of mortgage loan servicers in New York.Read more

Altisource Portfolio Solutions, a provider of knowledge process services related to real estate mortgage portfolio management, asset recovery management and customer relationship management, announces the addition of short sale and deed-in-lieu services to its line of services available to mortgage lenders and servicers. The expansion leverages Altisource's 20 years of experience in default and asset management to provide lenders and servicers with another essential component to enhance their loss mitigation programs.Read more

Bank of America has increased its industry-leading total of completed Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications to more than 76,300 through July. In addition, nearly 100,000 Bank of America customers have received modifications outside of the government program this year, including many on second looks at loans that did not qualify for modification under the federal government's program.Read more

HOPE NOW, the private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors estimates the industry has completed about 975,000 permanent loan modifications so far in 2010. HOPE NOW also reports that from January 2010 through June 2010, approximately 78 percent of mortgage servicers’ proprietary loan modifications included principal and interest reductions, indicating servicers are providing lower monthly payments to homeowners for longer term sustainability and better home retention.Read more

As percentages for permanent modifications in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) have continued to increase over the past several months, Fifth Third Mortgage Company's modification rates are continuing to excel beyond the national average.Read more