About 37,000 loan modifications were completed in May – a decrease of about 12% compared to April, according to HOPE NOW, a voluntary, private-sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and nonprofit counselors.
Of those, about 25,000 were through proprietary programs while 11,774 were completed via the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), according to the group.
The U.S. government recently extended HAMP through 2016 in an effort to get more homeowners to participate in the program.
Since 2007, approximately 7.05 million homeowners have received loan modifications, including about 5.7 million proprietary modifications and 1.38 million completed via HAMP, which was launched in 2009.
HOPE NOW notes that during May, the total number of loan modifications, short sales, deeds in lieu and other workout plans outpaced foreclosure sales by a margin of almost four to one (approximately 151,600 solutions versus 39,700 foreclosure sales). A total of 102,000 workouts were issued during the month.
There were about 38,700 foreclosure sales in May, down about 4% compared to 40,000 in April.
Foreclosure starts, however, inched back up – about 67,200 were reported in May compared to about 64,800 in April.
About 1.9 million mortgages were 60 days or more past due or seriously delinquent in May, making it the third straight month that the serious delinquencies remained under 2 million.
There were about 10,000 short sales completed in May versus 12,000 in April – a decrease of 14%.
There were about 2,600 deed-in-lieu actions completed in May versus 2,800 in April – a decrease of 7%.
HOPE NOW, in conjunction with Making Home Affordable, will be holding outreach events in Riverside and Sacramento, Calif., this month and in Baltimore, Md. in September. In addition, a special HOPE NOW homeowner event with Florida Congressman Patrick Murphy will be held in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in August.
What's more, the organization is planning to hold several online virtual events in the upcoming months.
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