Bank of America completed 23,500 permanent Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications in April, almost double what it processed the previous month.
The nation's largest servicer of residential loans is becoming more proficient in the use of the HAMP, which requires servicers to reduce a borrowers' mortgage debt to 31% of income, and put the applicant through a three-month payment trial before qualifying him for a permanent modification.
"We continue to evaluate homeowners' eligibility and activate trial modifications while focusing on completing as many permanent modifications as possible," said Jack Schakett, BofA's credit and loss mitigation executive.
BofA had completed 32,900 HAMP modifications as of March 30, overtaking JPMorgan Chase (31,460 completed mods) as the top HAMP servicer. "We continue to demonstrate momentum executing HAMP," BofA Home Loans president Barbara Desoer said recently.
She noted that another 38,000 permanent modifications would be completed once the customers signed the contract. Since the Obama Administration launched HAMP in the spring of 2009, B of A has completed 56,400 modifications.
In other servicing news, PHH Corp. on Monday named industry veteran Luke Hayden president of its mortgage division, effective immediately.
In a statement PHH said Hayden replaces Mark Danahy, who left the nonbank lender/servicer to "pursue other opportunities."
At press time, the company had not returned telephone calls concerning Danahy's departure. According to figures compiled by ASR sister publication National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, the Mount Laurel-based PHH Mortgage is the nation's ninth largest servicer with $151 billion in receivables. It ranks eighth among funders. PHH Mortgage also is one of the largest private label lenders in the nation.
During his 30-year career in mortgage banking, Hayden has worked at Chase Home Mortgage, GMAC Mortgage, and Renaissance Investment Trust.
Meanwhile, in other private label lender news, Quicken Loans, Livonia, Mich., is jumping into the private label origination business, offering its services to community banks and credit unions.
The company said it has launched Quicken Loans Mortgage Services for lenders that want to originate home loans, but do not feel they have sufficient resources to hire loan officers, underwriters and support staff.
Currently, PHH Mortgage is the largest private label funder in the U.S.
