HUD: FHA Helping to Avoid Foreclosures

The loss mitigation tools available to Federal Housing Administration lender/servicers have helped 36,500 thousand families who were behind in their mortgage payment keep their homes during the first half of fiscal year 2007, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development."FHA lending relief measures continue to help families around the nation work through difficult times, stay in their homes, and avoid foreclosure," HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said. HUD is urging Congress to pass an FHA reform bill that would allow the federal mortgage insurance program to finance more subprime borrowers. "Modernizing the FHA would provide more hard-working families with a strong alternative to risky mortgages," the secretary added. In fiscal 2006, the FHA loss mitigation program helped 75,000 delinquent borrowers keep their homes. However, FHA foreclosures totaled 51,600 in fiscal 2006. In addition, 4,900 defaults resulted in pre-foreclosure sales.