Citigroup Joins JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo in 2nd-Lien Foreclosure Program

Citigroup (NYSE:C) announced it will join JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) in the Second-Lien Modification Program (2MP) initiated by the government.

The program works with borrowers who have second mortages in order to aid them in reducing the mortgage payments to help them stay in their homes.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo had already publicly stated the will participate in the program, which while different than the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) program, does work along with it to bring the modifications together.

All of this is an attempt to stem the growing number of foreclosures, which helps the homeowners and the banks when they can be worked out. The banks don’t have to include the foreclosures on their books when prevented, which keeps their balance sheets looking stronger.

CitiMortgage is the unit of Citigroup dealing with the mortgage modifications, and has been either the top or the second-best at getting borrowers into the trail modifications in HAMP.

Last month the Citigroup division was in second place in mortgage modifications with 52 percent of those eligible for the assistance signed up. GMAC was in first place with 53 percent of those eligible participating in the program.

There is a lot of room for improvement with all the banks, as only 29 percent of those elegible for loan modifications have used HAMP.
 
Citigroup claims over 825,000 families have been helped since 2007 to avoid being foreclosed on.