Initial Modification Program Goal May Be Met by November

The 45 Home Affordable Modification Program servicers are now on track to meet the Obama administration's initial goal of starting 500,000 trial modifications by Nov. 1, according to Treasury assistant secretary Michael Barr. Servicers participating in the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program had over 360,000 homeowners in 90-day trial modifications as of Aug. 31, up from 235,000 in July, according to the latest Treasury report. While performance of individual servicers has been "uneven," Mr. Barr told a congressional panel, "we think all the servicers can do more than they are doing now and we would like to continue to work with them for better results." Bank of America doubled the number of homeowners participating in trial loan modifications and it is on pace to transition 125,000 at-risk loans into HAMP trial modifications by Nov. 1, according to Jack Schakett, a loss mitigation executive. He testified that BoA had 68,000 homeowners in 90-day trials at the end of August, up from 28,000 in July. JPMorgan Chase had 144,050 loans in trial modifications as of August 31, compared to 79,300 in July. Of the 144,500 loans in three-month trials, 113,000 were active as of Aug. 31 and "borrowers are making their trial plan payments," Chase executive Molly Sheehan said. BoA has 7% of its HAMP-eligible borrowers in trial modifications and Chase has 25% of its eligible borrowers in trial modifications.