RISMEDIA, Nov. 25, 2008-Genworth Financial, a mortgage insurer, along with its loan servicer partners, has helped more than 11,000 families avoid foreclosure in the past year through its Homeowner Assistance Program, the company reports. Genworth’s quarterly Foreclosure Prevention Scorecard, released this week, analyzes mortgage workouts conducted in the 12-month period from October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008, and details the increase in workouts during this time period.
Of the 11,000 homeowners helped by the company’s foreclosure prevention efforts, 89% received a “cure” mortgage workout, meaning the borrower was able to save their home and become current on their mortgage. The remaining 11% were able to avoid foreclosure through a “non-cure” workout. The report, available at www.genworth.com/Scorecard, provides a snapshot of homeowner assistance trends across the nation.
Based on Genworth’s loss mitigation efforts, the report lists data for the top 10 states where workouts occurred over the 12-month period, including (in order): Texas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Illinois, New York and Indiana.
According to the company, Genworth workouts helped more than 3,100 borrowers in the third quarter of 2008, a 56% increase over the same period in 2007. Florida showed the largest gain in workouts with an increase of 163%, up 27% from the second quarter of 2008. Texas, with more than 1,000 workouts in the period analyzed, topped the list of states for the third quarter in a row. Houston continues to top the list of the leading city for workouts.
More than 53% of borrowers assisted had mortgage payments under $1,000.
“A growing number of families across the U.S. have saved their homes by working with us and their lenders to make their mortgages more affordable,” said Alan Goldberg, vice president of Homeowner Assistance at Genworth Financial. “However, more families are still struggling under the weight of challenging economic times, and they should know that help is available. Proactively communicating with their mortgage lender or insurer is the first step towards rescuing their home.”
Nationally, repayment plans accounted for 50% of workouts in the third quarter of 2008, followed by loan modifications (32%), short sales (9%), Fannie Mae’s HomeSaver Advance TM (7%), and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure (2%).
