Article: Obama's Making Lives Easier With New Guidelines For Loan Modification Programs

The Obama administration had launched the home affordability plan to stabilize the housing market in early 2009. In less than a year, more than 85,000 homeowners have registered for trial and permanent loan modification programs. Transferring all the homeowners who have successfully completed the trial period to a permanent plan has become a task of prime importance for the government. With this regard, the administration has issued a list of documentation requirements to the service providers. These guidelines will help in refining the procedure, and at the same time, accelerate trial modification conversions to permanent ones.

The loan modification and refinancing schemes have brought immediate relief to several struggling homeowners. A top official at the Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office says that the administration is confident of bringing American households out of this catastrophe soon. He said that they are making every effort possible to expedite the process of providing services to qualified homeowners, and move the capable ones to permanent modifications.

A senior spokesperson at the Housing Finance said that in order to preserve the integrity and purpose of the program, it is imperative to increase the number of borrowers receiving permanent mortgage modification under the HAMP. Hence, the latest updates sent to the participating service providers should help in quicker conversions, and thus, faster results. The new guidelines require a borrower to submit some essential documents prior to the evaluation. This will speed up the procedure as it will be more convenient for the servicers with the complete paperwork in place.

The loan modification guidance concentrates on two major points:

1. All requisite documentation be provided before the commencement of trial modification

The administration has listed out a certain set of documents that is mandatory to be submitted by the eligible homeowners in trial modifications. With all credentials in hand, the servicers can carry out the evaluation process quickly. Thus, they can offer conversions sooner.

2. Transferring borrowers in the temporary review period to permanent plans

In the month of December, the Treasury department had issued an extended period till January 31st to give servicers some allowance to gather all the documentation and submit it appropriately. In case of any missing papers or incorrect information, borrowers had to be informed about them to take rectification measures. The new guidance elucidates steps to shift borrowers, who have been current on their payments, to permanent loan modification.

The HAMP has been successful in providing relief to more than 900,000 Americans, and aims at a million more. More than 100 financing firms and servicers are participating in the program. Thus, more than 85 percent of the stressed out homeowners can avail assured benefits.