It goes without saying that a homeowner’s ultimate goal when seeking a modification from the Making Home Affordable Program is to acquire an affordable, permanent home loan modification plan as some homeowners have struggled to get a trial plan, while others may have found that it was difficult to transition from a trial to a permanent modification program. However, there has been some positive results in the area of conversions despite the fact that some homeowners do still have issues when it comes to dealing with their mortgage servicer or meeting payments during one of these modified home loan agreements.
Yet, we have seen, as of the August Making Home Affordable reports, that servicers are improving upon their conversion rates in terms of trials that are converted to permanent modifications as there are some banks whose conversion rate is as high as 82% to 89%, which when we consider homeowners who simply cannot pay their home loan, redefault, or pursue an alternative program rather than modification, instances where these high conversions are being seen homeowners may find a higher likelihood when it comes to avoiding foreclosure.
Furthermore, delinquencies that homeowners have seen in a trial modification have also been a problem for some but thanks to changes that have been enacted by many mortgage servicers, the average time for a homeowner to be converted from a trial to a permanent modification has reportedly decreased from a little over five months to 3.5 months. Once again though, homeowners do still have problems when it comes to transitioning from a trial to a permanent modification, and this could be for different reasons as there are instances where mortgage servicers may have trouble when it comes to processing or converting these trials due to the large number or some homeowners may simply not meet the qualifications that are necessary.
In cases where homeowners are making payments in a timely manner but are stuck in a trial modification plan, some have had success when they talk to their servicer or a housing counselor, as there are some steps that may be taken to address problems where homeowners are not being able to find the conversion to a permanent modification they seek. However, if homeowners are in the position where they can’t make their mortgage payment or are struggling financially and fear that they may not be in a position to benefit from a more long-term modification plan, this is again an area where consulting these resources could either point homeowners in the direction of alternative assistance programs or foreclosure alternatives that may be beneficial when it comes to helping homeowners find a solution in cases where their mortgage payment is simply too costly.
