Nearly 310,000 Homeowners Benefit from National Mortgage Settlement

Sincernthe signing of the agreement, nearly 310,000 homeowners have received monetary reliefrnunder the National Mortgage Settlement according to a progress report releasedrnon Monday by Joseph A. Smith, the settlement’s independent monitor.  The five large mortgage servicers who signedrnthe settlement have distributed a combined total of $26.1 billion in directrnrelief to those homeowners, an average of $84,385, each as compensation for thernalleged loan servicing and foreclosure abuses address in the Settlement betweenrnthem, 49 of the states’ attorneys general, and the federal government.  The total includes both completed Consumer Reliefrnactivities and active first lien trial modifications.</p

Thernfive servicers committed amounts to Consumer Relief obligations ranging fromrn$200 million for Ally to $4.34 billion from Wells Fargo.  To meet their commitments the servicers canrnoffer a variety of activities including first and second lien modifications,rnfacilitation of short sales, deficiency waivers, anti-blight activities,rnrefinancing, and forbearance for unemployed borrowers.</p

Duringrnthe report period, from March 1 to September 30 2012, servicers accomplished thernfollowing:</p<ul class="unIndentedList"<li21,833rnborrowers successfully completed first lien modifications, receiving $2.55 inrnprincipal forgiveness, an average of $116,929 each.</li<li20,967rnborrowers are in an active first lien trial modification, the total principalrnvalue of which is $4.19 billion. Thernpotential relief to borrowers is $135,223 each if the trials are completed.</li<liSecondrnlien modifications and extinguishments were provided to 50,025 borrowers withrnan average modification or extinguishment of $55,534.</li<liServicersrnrefinanced 37,396 mortgages with an average unpaid principal balance ofrn$120,398 yielding an average interest rate savings of 2.35 percentage pointsrnand a value over the life of the loans of $1.44 billion. Each borrower will save an average of $409 inrnpayments each month.</li</ul<ul