Bank of America completes 160,000 mods in first half of 2010

Through the first half of 2010, Bank of America has completed mortgage modifications providing homeownership retention solutions for about 160,000 homeowners who face difficulties in making their monthly payments due to economic conditions. That brings the bank's total of modified home loans to 650,000 since January 2008. The upcoming Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) performance report from the U.S. Department of Treasury is expected to show that Bank of America continues to lead all servicers with more than 72,000 permanent HAMP modifications completed through June 2010, up from 63,000 reported by Treasury the month before. "Although our total HAMP modifications slowed this month compared to previous periods, we had a particularly strong month in completing proprietary modifications outside of HAMP," said Rebecca Mairone, default servicing executive for Bank of America Home Loans. "This included solid performance in providing alternative solutions through our second look program to homeowners who did not qualify for a permanent HAMP modification." The bank completed nearly 17,000 non-HAMP modifications in June, bringing the total for the year to nearly 88,000. Since January 2008, close to 580,000 proprietary modifications have been completed for Bank of America Home Loans customers. "We continue to work through our remaining inventory of ongoing active HAMP trial modifications to complete underwriting reviews and make determinations on customers' eligibility for permanent solutions. Simultaneously, since mid-April, we have been implementing a revised government policy requiring full documentation and underwriting of new trial modification plans," Mairone said. "During this transition period, we anticipate a slower rate of growth in the number of completed HAMP modifications. For more information, visit www.bankofamerica.com.