NCRC Study Finds Troubling Trends with Loan Modifications - 3/30/2010

Washington, DC - The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has opened an investigation into Making Home Affordable, the federal foreclosure prevention program. As part of the Committee’s investigation, NCRC released a survey of homeowner experiences in the loan modification process, conducted by over 29 housing counseling organizations affiliated with the organization.

“We’ve surveyed housing counselors from the front lines of the foreclosure crisis, and they tell us that the battle is being lost.” said John Taylor, president and chief executive officer of the NCRC. “While this administration has been more proactive than the last, Making Home Affordable is simply failing to make enough of a difference relative to the size of the problem. It’s not for lack of good ideas, including more aggressive principal reductions that this crisis has been allowed to continue mostly unabated. The end result, if we don’t get ahead of this problem now, is the ongoing loss of wealth from America’s communities.”

NCRC's HAMP Mortgage Modification Survey provides alarming insight into the experience of homeowners going through the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The survey was administered to distressed homeowners seeking assistance from NCRC’s Housing Counseling Network. The survey documents performance and programmatic issues, issues of fairness and equity, and pragmatic recommendations to improve upon the HAMP program.

STORY BY THE NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE