Homeowners Receive 35,000-Plus Permanent Loan Mods in January

HOPE NOW has released its January 2015 loan modification data, which found that an estimated 35,000 homeowners received permanent, affordable loan modifications from mortgage servicers. This total includes modifications completed under both proprietary programs and the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Total non-foreclosure solutions (the combination of total loan modifications, short sales, deeds in lieu and workout plans) for the month of January were approximately 158,000, compared to approximately 36,000 foreclosure sales for the month of January.

Of the permanent loan modifications completed in the month of January, an estimated 24,000 were through proprietary programs and 10,765 were completed via HAMP. Loan modifications have largely declined month to month, corresponding with the lower number of foreclosure sales. This is a direct result of the falling number of serious delinquencies.

►Loan modifications: Approximately 35,000 completed in January vs. 37,000 in December—a decrease of approximately five percent.

►Short sales: Approximately 8,000 completed in January vs. 10,000 in December—a decrease of 20 percent.

►Deed in-lieu: Approximately 2,000 completed in January vs. 2,000 in December—unchanged.

►Foreclosure starts: Approximately 80,000 in January vs. 80,000 in December—unchanged.

►Foreclosure sales: Approximately 36,000 in January vs. 29,000 in December—an increase of 19 percent.

►Serious delinquencies: Approximately 1.90 million in January vs. 1.92 million in December—unchanged.