Joseph A. Smith Jr., Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, today released a report, "First Take: Progress Report From the Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement," outlining the settlement, steps his office has taken to implement it and progress made by the five banks that are parties to the settlement to date. “It has been nearly five months since the settlement went into effect, and I believe it is important to report on our progress,” said Smith. “This report is not required by the settlement and contains information given voluntarily to me by the banks. It is intended to be the basis of a national conversation about the servicers’ efforts to meet their obligations under the settlement.”
The full report can be found here. The Monitor also created an interactive report that can be found here.
“The report discloses that the banks have granted $10.56 billion in consumer relief to borrowers between March 1 and June 30, 2012. Additionally, first lien principal reduction trials were offered and begun for about 28,000 homeowners, totaling approximately $3 billion of potential relief,” said Smith. “This information is self-reported and has not been confirmed by the professional firms working with me. Further, it represents gross dollar amounts and cannot be used to evaluate progress toward the banks’ $20 billion obligation.”
In addition, the report provides an update on the banks’ implementation of the settlement’s servicing standards.
“As of July 5, the servicers reported to me that 56 servicing standards have been incorporated into their business processes,” said Smith. “Implementation of the mortgage servicing standards outlined in the settlement can be an important contribution to reform of the mortgage finance system. More hard work remains as the banks work to meet their obligations. My colleagues and I look forward to that work and to keeping policymakers and the public informed of our progress.”
The report contains a summary of the settlement and its terms, along with information on how Smith has set up the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight to carry out his duties as Monitor. The report also provides an update on servicing standards implementation and summarizes the data that servicers voluntarily provided to Smith as progress of relief given between March 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012. The attached graphic shows in what form this relief was distributed.
