BofA helps 125,000 homeowners begin Home Affordable trial Modifications

 Bank of America, one of the world's largest financial institutions, announced today it has exceeded its previously stated target to help at least 125,000 financially distressed homeowners begin trial modifications through the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by November 1.

In April when Bank of America began participating in the program it has initiated nearly one in five HAMP trial modifications industrywide. Since beginning its HAMP outreach efforts, the bank's homeownership retention division has contacted nearly 600,000 potentially eligible homeowners to ascertain their interest in HAMP and has extended more than 200,000 offers of trial modifications under the program.

Jack Schakett, credit loss mitigation strategies executive of Bank of America Home Loans stated that Bank of America associates works to keep as many customers in their homes as possible, and it has established clear momentum in providing trial modifications under HAMP. “We are helping our customers to complete trial modifications successfully, convert to permanently modified loans under the program and get back on the path to successful, sustainable homeownership," explained Schakett. He also noted that Bank of America began achieving significant gains in trial modification starts in August. On that basis, the company expects its conversion of customers into permanent modifications under the program will begin showing substantial progress in November, and the December program reporting should clearly show that. 

In addition to its active participation in HAMP, Bank of America was among the first lenders to offer refinancing under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Now Bank of America has already provided HARP refinancing to about 95,000 homeowners. That is the most customers of any bank, representing nearly 30 percent of the industry total.