December 27, 2010 (Shirley Allen)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Third Quarter 2010 Foreclosure Prevention & Refinance Report on the status of loan modifications at both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Loan modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) reportedly increased 16 percent in the quarter, although the overall volume of loan modifications and the pace of HAMP modifications declined from previous periods.

Highlights of the report included:

- Loans modified in the last three quarters are performing substantially better three months after modification, compared to loans modified in earlier periods.

- More than half of the loan modifications completed in the third quarter lowered borrowers’ monthly payments by over 30 percent.

- Loans that are 30-days delinquent increased by 17,600 loans or 2.7 percent during the third quarter to approximately 682,000.

- Loans 60-plus-days delinquent declined for the third consecutive quarter. The 60-plus-days delinquent loans decreased by 109,700 loans, or 6.8 percent during the third quarter to approximately 1.5 million.

- Nearly 35,400 HAMP trial modifications transitioned to permanent during the third quarter bringing the total number of active HAMP permanent modifications to nearly 260,000.

- Short sales and deeds-in-lieu remained steady during the quarter.

- Since the first full quarter in conservatorship (4Q08), combined completed
foreclosure prevention actions total 1,240,982.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $5.9 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.

Tags: fhfa, freddie mac, fannie mae, loan modifications, mortgage loans, modified loans, hamp