Under a new Streamlined Modification Initiative announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, mortgage servicers must now offer borrowers who are 3 to 24 months delinquent a plan to help avoid foreclosure.
That includes the Home Affordable Refinance Program and the Streamlined Modification Initiative for homeowners whose mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance giants that were taken over by the federal government to avert their collapse in September 2008 but have since returned to profitability.
(See "Tranche Warfare") Zandi said that short of changing the law, "this could be an impediment to the success" of the government-led loan modification initiative.
The modification initiative, known as HAMP, long ago was dismissed by housing experts as a failure.
Part of its appeal, officials said, is its provision forbidding taxpayers to foot the bill for any refinance or loan modification initiative.
Last week, the Treasury Department official overseeing its bailout programs admitted for the first time that the mortgage modification initiative will not meet the goal laid out by President Obama when he announced the program in February 2009.
But perhaps most important of all, "we believe the GAO did not sufficiently take into account the scope and complexity of the challenges Treasury faced when it developed and implemented a modification initiative, the scale of which has never been previously attempted," Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Herbert M. Allison, Jr. wrote.
Although we faced multiple challenges, this study was an important first step in launching a lifestyle modification initiative, and our analysis of recruitment and retention addresses the difficulties in mounting this type of clinical trial.
Modification of initiatives, to ensure a better fit with the individual context and setting are required in the implementation of new initiatives, as are the use of existing networks and social relations, including, not only consumers and clinicians, and other relevant stakeholders [ 61].
It has been shown that for uncomplicated grade 1 hypertension, efficient lifestyle modifications and initiatives could play a role [ 49- 51].
Request simple modifications initially.
