HAMP Hearing by House Subcomittee

The House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity held a hearing yesterday on the "Progress of the Making Home Affordable Program: What are the Outcomes for Homeowners and What Are the Obstacles to Success?"

Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr's written testimony outlined the steps being taken by the Administration to strengthen the housing sector and help homeowners. He referenced the new home buyers tax credit and the Making Home Affordable Program, including the Home Affordable Modification Plan ("HAMP") which is a "$75 billion program to lower mortgage payments for at risk borrowers" for up to 3 to 4 million borrowers. He stated that forty-five servicers have sign up for HAMP, that offers have been extended on over 570,000 trial modifications, and that over 360,000 trial modifications are already underway. But the Wall Street Journal reports that these figures amount to only 12% of eligible borrowers having started trial loan modifications under HAMP according to a Treasury report and that there are increasing concerns about the number of borrowers who will actually receive a permanent modification after receiving three month trial period modification.

Assistant Secretary Barr stated that HAMP's guidelines require servicers "to service all loan in their portfolio according to HAMP guidelines, unless explicitly prohibited by pooling and servicing agreements, and further must make reasonable efforts to obtain waivers of any limits on participation."

He also that that the parties are working on "establishing denial codes that will require servicers to report the reason for modification denials, both to Treasury and to borrowers." He expects the denial codes to become operational on October 1.

Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center also offered written testimony. She testified that the HAMP program is not providing a sufficient number of loan modifications and that the offered modifications often do not meet the HAMP guidelines. She also stated that the implementation of HAMP has been slow and sporadic. She advocates that Congres should mandate a stronger approach to loan modification, including allowing bankruptcy judges to modify appropriate mortgage loans. She suggested the following improvements: 1. the Net Present Value model for qualifying homeowners should be made public, 2. the HAMP guidelines and directives should be consolidated and clarified, 3. institution of an independent review process upon denial, and 4. access to an ombudsman for complaints.

Congressman Barney Frank argued that proposed bankruptcy mortgage modification will not affect the flow of credit as it will be limited to mortgages already in existence. He stated that if the mortgage servicers do not act to stem the foreclosure crisis by modifying more mortgages, there would be an increased chance that Congress will enact bankruptcy laws allowing certain mortgage modifications. Frank stated that “the best lobbyists we have for getting bankruptcy legislation passed are the servicers who are not doing a very good job of getting mortgages modified.” Frank reportedly told the Wall Street Journal that he intends to eventually include a mortgage modification provision in legislation that will overhaul the financial system. He also stated that legislation should address the problem of mortgage service's claiming lack of authority due to securitization.