Mortgage Modification -- the "Good" and "Bad" Lenders -- March 2010 edition

The number of homeowners who have received modifications of their existing mortgages under the Federal government's HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) continues to climb. More than one million modifications of existing mortgages are active, as of the recently-released February stats. The percentage of modifications that have hit permanent status has also risen, to 17 percent from 12 percent the month before (you undergo a trial modification before being offered a permanent one).

The latest report released from the government is titled the "Making Home Affordable Program Servicer Performance Report through February 2010." It's ten pages and contains some interesting data. Did you know, for instance, that of the 6 million loans that are overdue by 60 days or more, some 800,000 are ineligible for HAMP modifications because they're on investment or vacation homes?

Watching the banks, every month we report what percentage of eligible loans are being modified -- sorted by bank. What follows is our report card for March, which presents grades for the month of February. Note that the slow banks from the past couple of months are still slow, with Irving, Tex.-based American Home Mortgage Servicing, Santa Ana, California's Carrington Mortgage Services, Sacramento, California's HomeEq Servicing, and North Las Vegas, Nevada's Wachovia Mortgage still clustered at the bottom of the pack.

On the top-performing end, GMAC beat out Citimortgage this month. Of GMAC's mortgages that are eligible for modification, at least 53 percent are in a trial modification, edging out Citi's 52 percent.

What follows here is this month's Top Ten HAMP Modification banks -- and Bottom Four:

HAMP Heroes

1. GMAC Mortgage, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania (53%)
2. Citimortgage, O'Fallon, Missouri (52%)
3. Select Portfolio Servicing, Salt Lake City, Utah (43%)
4. Saxon Mortgage Services, Irving, Texas (41%)
5. Green Tree Servicing LLC, St. Paul, Minnesota (41%)
6. Bayview Loan Servicing, Coral Gables, Florida (40%)
7. JP Morgan Chase, New York, New York (39%)
8. Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco, California (37%)
9. Aurora Loan Services, Littleton, Colorado (35%)
10. PNC Mortgage, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (29%)

1. American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., Irving, Texas (10%)
2. Carrington Mortgage Services LLC, Santa Ana, California (8%)
3. HomeEq Servicing, Sacramento, California (5%)
4. Wachovia Mortgage, FSB, North Las Vegas, Nevada (2%)

• When is a Home "Underwater?"
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• Mortgage Modification -- the "Good" and "Bad" Lenders -- February 2010 edition
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