Wells Fargo announced last week that is has modified more than 220,000 home loans over the first seven months of 2009. 20,219 of those loans are trial modifications being executed under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
The bank said now that the details of the HAMP program are clear that it plans to accelerate its use of the program, firmly believing it can reach 500,000 HAMP trial modifications by November 1.
“HAMP is an important part of the administration’s efforts to provide mortgage relief and stabilize the housing market,” said Mike Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, in a company press release. While the majority of our customers who request help are getting through to us and receiving the help they need, we know we’ve fallen short of our customer service goals in some cases.”
Wells Fargo also said it has taken additional steps in its customer service process that will enable them to qualify most HAMP trial modification applicants during their first service call, while also sending out the trial modification agreement to eligible borrowers within a 48-hour time frame.
Along with its loan modification efforts, Wells Fargo has also refinance mortgages for more than 860,000 homeowners across the country in the first seven months of the year.
The Home Affordable Modification Program was launched in March of 2009 and is a $75 billion program targeted at helping homeowners that have monthly loan payments in excess of 31 percent of their gross income.
In late July, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued changes to the guidelines for FHA loans that go through the HAMP. The FHA-HAMP program is set to be in full swing come August 15 and basically reduces the monthly payment of a loan by using an interest free subordinate mortgage that takes a chunk of the original loan’s principal, payments are deferred on the subordinate loan until the original mortgage is paid off. The FHA offers incentives up to $1,250 to lenders that modify FHA loans.
