Hope Now Claims to Have Avoided Nearly Two Million Foreclosures

July 31 2008 - A government-backed alliance of mortgage lenders and housing advocates Wednesday said its mortgage initiative prevented about 522,000 foreclosures in the second quarter of 2008, up from about 502,000 the prior quarter.

The Hope Now alliance said it helped 181,000 mortgages avoid foreclosure in June, up from 167,000 in May. In June, it extended the repayment terms of about 105,000 and modified the terms of 76,000 mortgages. Hope Now said the mortgage industry initiative, which has the backing of the Treasury Department, has prevented 1.9 million foreclosures since July 2007.

In a conference call, Hope Now executive director Faith Schwartz said the alliance is working to save more mortgages from foreclosure even as the U.S. default rate continues to rise. “The industry continues to accelerate the pace at which it is helping homeowners and expects this positive trend to continue,” Schwartz said. She added that recent guidelines to streamline and speed up efforts to save homeowners from foreclosures are a direct cause of the increased numbers.

But recent foreclosure data suggest the alliance faces continued pressure from the declining housing market. RealtyTrac, an online real estate company that tracks foreclosures, reported a 121% increase in the number of foreclosures during the second quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2007.

Jonathan Kempner, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said those numbers only fuel Hope Now’s efforts to work more efficiently. “The more people have issues, the more we are concerned and we’re going to do everything we can to get them solutions,” he said.

Hope Now Claims to Have Avoided Nearly Two Million Foreclosures
by CHRISTINA M. WRIGHT | The Wall Street Journal