Mortgage Modification -- the "Good" and "Bad" Lenders -- September 2009 edition

(MoneyWatch)  Through the magic of the Internet, I consistently see that one of my most popular posts is the list of which loan servicers are trying to help consumers modify loans. The report card is issued every month by the federal government, with the theory being that giving a gold star to banks who are trying will motivate them, and giving black marks to banks who aren't trying will shame them.

September numbers aren't out yet, but we do have the grades for August -- in a report formally titled the "Making Home Affordable Program Servicer Performance Report through August 2009." (The first report card on this program, which is abbreviated HAMP, was issued with July numbers.) I've sliced-and-diced the data, picking out the banks that have modified the highest percentage of loans that were eligible -- and the banks that had loans that they could have modified, but didn't move on any of those loans (or moved on just one percent of them).

Special kudos to ShoreBank of Chicago, Illinois, which made our list of "Hamp Horrors" -- banks with no loans modified -- based on the July report, and by the August report had worked its way off that list, modifying 10 percent of its eligible loans.

So here's the top (and bottom) ten. The numbers in parentheses are the percentage of loans eligible for modification that have been moved into trial modification:

HAMP Heroes

1. Lake National Bank, Mentor, Ohio (100%) [This is just one loan, which Lake modified in July.]
2. Saxon Mortgage Services, Irving, Texas (39%)
3. Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage Company, The Villages, Florida (35%)
4. Nationstar Mortgage, Lewisville, Texas (30%) [New to the list]
5. Wescom Central Credit Union, Pasadena, California (28%)
6. GMAC Mortgage, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania (26%)
7. JP Morgan Chase, New York, New York (25%)
8. Citimortgage, O'Fallon, Missouri (23%) [New to the list]
9. Aurora Loan Services, Littleton, Colorado (22%)
10. Residential Credit Solutions, Fort Worth, Texas (17%)

HAMP Horrors (no loans yet modified)

1. Farmers State Bank, West Salem, Ohio
2. First Bank, St. Louis, Missouri
3. HomeEq Servicing, Sacramento, California
4. Home Loan Services Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5. Mission Federal Credit Union, San Diego, California
6. MorEquity, Inc., Evansville, Illinois
7. Mortgage Center LLC, Southfield, Michigan
8. PennyMac Loan Services Inc., Calabasas, California
9. PNC Bank, National Association, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
10. Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union, West Lafayette, Indiana
11. Technology Credit Union, San Jose, California

HAMP "Hardly" (one percent of loans modified)

1. American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., Columbia, Maryland
2. IBM Southeast Employees Federal Credit Union, Columbia, Maryland
3. RG Mortgage Corporation, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Read More:

• New November Report Card for "Good" and "Bad" Mortgage Lenders


• Mortgage Modification July 2009 -- the "Good" and "Bad" Lenders
• Three Million Mortgages Still Need to be Modified