, HOPE NOW members and the mortgage lending industry modified 101,000 mortgages, compared to 121,000 in April (a 16.5% drop), and initiated 148,000 repayment plans, up from 140,000 in April (a 5.7% increase), the alliance says. The drop in the number of modifications and increase in repayment plans from April can, to some extent, be attributed to the industry's implementation of the Obama administration's home retention program, according to HOPE NOW. Under the government requirements for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), loans are subject to a three-month trial period before a modification can be completed. Therefore, a number of workouts that will end up being modifications can currently only by reported as repayment plans or trial modifications. Many of these trial modifications are expected to result in formal reporting of modifications after 90 days. "In May alone, HOPE NOW and its partners helped 249,000 [borrowers] stay in their homes," says Faith Schwartz, executive director of the HOPE NOW Alliance. "While workouts dipped slightly in May, it is fully expected those numbers will increase as the industry and the Obama administration implement the Making Home Affordable program and as mortgage servicers continue to ramp up to meet growing consumer needs and address the complexities of the government's home retention efforts." Sixty-day-plus delinquencies increased from 2.9 million in April to almost 3 million in May, and foreclosure starts bumped up from 243,000 to 257,000, the group's data show. Completed foreclosure sales also increased in May to 83,000, from 63,000 in April. SOURCE: H
