Homeowners with Bank of America who are in a unique position where a primary and secondary mortgage are in place and may be causing payment problems, as a result of factors like unemployment or other financial issues that homeowners face, may have seen that there are continued opportunities being made for the Second Lien Modification Program, as a way for homeowners to not only find more affordability on their primary home loan but their secondary mortgage as well. Furthermore, we have seen that there were increases with Bank of America not only in terms of these programs that were started but in the number of second liens that were fully extinguished and the number of active modifications that have forgiven a partial percentage of the homeowner’s second lien and modified their terms.
Treasury Department data released here in October shows that between July and August the number of second lien modifications that were started increase from 15,708 to 17,009, with the number of full extinguishment’s climbing to 1,606, which was up from 1,377 in July, with the total number of active second lien modifications standing at 15,135 as of August. This information may be helpful for homeowners who are in a position where they need a modification on their second mortgage due to the fact that some are finding themselves successful at getting a primary modification but there are also issues where homeowners cannot meet the totality of their mortgage payment obligation as a result of a second mortgage.
Obviously, not all homeowners are in a position where this may be a problem, but it should be remembered that homeowners do have these options if a primary modification is simply not enough to help. In cases where a severe financial distress situation has arisen, some homeowners may be able to avoid foreclosure entirely if these programs are implemented, but there are also some proprietary plans or state-specific initiatives that Bank of America homeowners may be able to explore as well. Understandably, when unemployment is one of the factors behind a homeowner’s inability to pay their mortgage this can lead to actions that have to be taken outside of traditional modifications as simply modifying the terms of a homeowner’s mortgage agreement isn’t necessarily going to be helpful.
However, areas of the modification program are still continuing to see some success despite the fact that it has not been at a level that was originally predicted, but there are still arguments that this program has helped many mortgage servicers set standards for their own in-house programs and of course there are homeowners who, despite some complaints and problems, have been able to benefit from this plan and avoid the loss of their home. Again though, homeowners do need to understand that there are extension programs and alternatives to traditional, federal modifications that may be necessary for a homeowner’s situation as these traditional routes to foreclosure prevention are not going to benefit every homeowner by meeting their specific needs in times of personal financial difficulties.
