September 10, 2012 (Shirley Allen)

Mortgage servicers stepped up their loan modification efforts in July as the number proprietary modifications jumped by over 42 percent from the previous month according to HOPE NOW, the voluntary, private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors.

Using a three month rolling average, a total of 66,002 homeowners received permanent, proprietary loan modifications in July, up 42.2 percent from a revised 46,402 loan modifications in June.

Of the proprietary loan modifications completed in July, seventy-seven percent (51,091) included reduced monthly principal and interest payments, with 71 percent (46,985) receiving a reduction of more than 10 percent. In addition, ninety-six percent (63,425) of the loan modifications received fixed interest rate loans of five years or more.

Short sales remained about even with the previous month as a total of 36,230 short sales were completed in July compared to a revised 36,295 in June.

Monthly foreclosure starts increased during July following June’s 20.6 percent decline. Foreclosure starts increased 4.9 percent from June, climbing from 156,945 to 164,593.

Completed foreclosure sales edged slightly lower, falling from 63,810 in June to 63,527 in July.

The number of homeowners that were at least 60 days or more past due also declined, falling from 2.518 million loans in June to 2.471 million in July.

Tags: HOPE NOW, private sector alliance, mortgage servicers, loan modifications, fixed rate mortgages, delinquencies, proprietary modifications, foreclosure starts, foreclosure sales

Source:
HOPE NOW