Obama's 'Making Homes Affordable Program' has helped 2.8% get relief

03-12-2010 • ZeroHedge.com

This is truly terrific news. This means that of the 6 million in 60 day delinquent 1st lien mortgage outstanding, a whopping 2.8% have gotten relief. Score one for the Obama administration. This doesn't even touch upon the bigger question: just who are these idiots who are stupid enough to still pay their mortgage? Paying mortgage is so pre-Repo 105. Full details from the makinghomeaffordable.com site: Number of Permanent Modifications Increases 45% • More than 170,000 permanent modifications have been granted to homeowners, who are guaranteed lower payments for five years. • An additional 91,800 permanent modifications have been approved by servicers and are pending borrower acceptance. Over One Million Borrowers in Active Trial and Permanent Modifications • More than 1.3 million homeowners have received offers for trial modifications, representing 34-45% toward the goal of 3-4 million offers extended through 2012. • More than 72,000 new trial modifications started in February; borrower savings begin with the first trial payment. Nearly 1.1 million trial modifications have begun under the program. • Of the 1 million borrowers in active modifications, more than 168,000 borrowers are in active permanent modifications. • These homeowners’ lower monthly mortgage payments represent a cumulative savings of over $2.7 billion. • Of modifications that have converted to permanent, 0.9% have been canceled. Of all modifications started, 8.2% have been canceled. Borrowers in Permanent Modifications Experience Real, Long-Term Savings in Monthly Housing Expenses • Borrowers in permanent modifications are saving a median of 36% of their before-modification payment; median savings is more than $500 each month. • Qualified homeowners could reduce housing-related expenses from almost half of their gross income to less than one-third of their income. • Upon completing one year of on-time payments per program guidelines, borrowers are eligible to earn up to $1,000 to be applied to their outstanding mortgage balance.