Freddie Urges Earlier Repayment Plans

Freddie Mac executives said at the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference in San Diego that they are revising servicing incentives to encourage lenders to implement repayment plans earlier in the default process."Early intervention is key to foreclosure prevention," Freddie Mac vice president for servicing and asset management Ingrid Beckles told MortgageWire. "We find that repayment plans that start at the 30- to 60-day mark have a much better chance of success than if they start at 90 days." As a result, Freddie Mac plans to increase its incentives for servicers that start successful repayment plans after 60 days of delinquency rather than waiting until a later stage of default. Freddie Mac also plans to increase the weighting assigned to successful repayment plans used to cure affordable housing loan products that have gone into default. Freddie Mac also plans to increase the incentive payment to servicers for successful repayment plans from $200 to $250.