Servicers Can Verify Jobless Benefits for Loan Mods

The Department of Labor, working with the Hope Now Unemployment Committee, has developed an online tool so servicers can easily verify a homeowner's unemployment benefits and the duration of those payments. The Obama administration has opened the door for homeowners that have lost their job to include unemployment insurance benefits in their gross income to qualify for a loan modification. But servicers have to verify that the borrower will receive at least nine months of unemployment benefits to be eligible for a modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program. "We have not been able to always get that information until now," said Katie King, who chairs the Hope Now Unemployment Committee. Unemployment has become such a problem, Ms. King said, that Hope Now is including DOL employment and training officials at their outreach events. Servicers also are directing troubled borrowers to the 3,000 local Department of Labor affiliated employment centers for career counseling, job training and placement opportunities. Ms. King is a community outreach manager at SunTrust Mortgage.