If you were reading MortgageOrb last week, you may have recalled a news item with the headline ‘Homeowner Workouts Reach Record Level in April.’ That item detailed a HOPE NOW report on mortgage servicers providing loan workouts to approximately 183,000 financially distressed homeowners in April. That was the highest monthly total since the HOPE NOW program began in July 2007.
Within that 183,000, HOPE NOW noted approximately 106,000 workouts were for prime and subprime loans and approximately 77,000 were loan modifications. The report also noted that the total number of loan workouts provided by mortgage servicers rose to 1,558,854 since July 2007.
I am repeating this news because it bears repeating, and because HOPE NOW shows that the industry is serious about resolving the current crisis. I hate to see mortgage bankers being cast as the irresponsible villains who are the sole source of blame for today's environment. Too many influential voices in politics and the media have used the industry as a punching bag, but the HOPE NOW numbers show that their attacks are nothing but cheap shots.
The name HOPE NOW is actually ironic, given that this coalition is literally the only hope that many homeowners can now grasp. The federal government is in a state of stalemate and denial, with the executive branch insisting everything is getting better and the legislative branch posturing and sputtering without actually presenting anything that resembles a viable solution. In a way, that might be a blessing in disguise – I can recall Ronald Reagan's peerless comment: ‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'’
In fairness, some state agencies have tried to provide assistance for their local constituencies. But for front-and-center leadership, it is the private sector that's stepping up, and that's a story that needs to be told at the highest possible decibel level.
I don't want to knock HOPE NOW, because I genuinely admire the work they're doing, but I genuinely believe they need to ramp up their publicity efforts to let the country know what they're doing. As a mortgage banker, you know what HOPE NOW is doing – but the average guy on the street probably never heard of HOPE NOW, and I am sure he'd be very surprised to learn that mortgage bankers are making a proactive effort to help people in need.
As mortgage bankers, you can help spread the good news on HOPE NOW by not letting naysayers get away with attacks on the industry. If you see a newspaper featuring a column or an editorial that knocks the industry's response to the current crisis, fire off a letter to the editor detailing HOPE NOW's work. If you hear a local radio chat show badmouthing mortgage bankers, try to dial in if they accept caller input and talk up HOPE NOW.
And if casual conversation veers towards the beat-the-bankers tone, politely cite those numbers I mentioned earlier. Even if you alert just one person to knowing what is going on, you've made a difference in rescuing the industry's reputation.
– Phil Hall, editor, Secondary Marketing Executive.
(Please address all comments regarding this opinion column to hallp@sme-online.com.)
