Loan Modifications Primer for Mortgage Industry

If you don’t know loan modifications you are going to have a hard time surviving this mortgage business cycle. Despite all of the appealing government assistance and FHA mortgage refinance programs, banks and now the government is settling into massive programs to streamline loan modifications for troubled homeowners.

Here is a quick primer on loan modifications to get you up to speed and help you spot opportunities for your mortgage business:

FHFA endorsed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loan Modification Program

• Official FHFA Director Lockhart’s Statement [PDF]
• Bailout Czar, Treasury Interim Secretary Neel Kashkari’s statement on loan modification program
• Reuters coverage of FHFA announcement
• Bloomberg coverage of FHFA loan modification program
• MortgageLoan.com coverage of FHFA loan modification program

Citigroup Loan Modification Program

• Official Citigroup Press Release on Loan Modification Program [Citigroup.com]
• Citigroup Offers Relief to Homeowners [Forbes.com]
• Citigroup Joins the Club, Offers Aggressive Loan Modification Plan [Housingwire.com]

JP Morgan Chase Loan Modification Program

• Official JP Morgan Chase Press Release on Loan Modification Program [JP Morgan Chase]
• JP Morgan Expanding Mortgage-Modification Program [Associated Press]
• Massive Effort to Save Mortgages [WSJ.com]

Bank of America Loan Modification Program

• Official Bank of America Press Release on Loan Modification Program [Bank of America]
• Banks Alter Loan Terms to Head Off Foreclosures [NYTimes.com]
• Countrywide Plan May Cut Mortgage Rates for 395,000 Borrowers [LAT.com]

Opinions on Loan Modification Programs

• Citigroup Joins the Mortgage Modification Nation [L.A. Land, LAT.com]
• The Underwhelming Frannie Loan-Mod Plan [Market Movers, Portfolio.com]
• New Mortgage Plan Just a Drop in the Bucket? [Real Time Economics, WSJ.com]
• Freddie/Fannie Mortgage Modifications [Paul Kedrosky]

–

I am Bill Rice the Managing Editor of MortgageLoan.com. These are my morning notes. If you have comments, feedback, or pointers to something interesting email me or follow me on Twitter.

(photo credit: respres)