Freddie Mac Launches Effort to Help Servicers Handle Record
Demand for Home Affordable Modifications
Stewart's Home Retention Services to Ease Backlogs For Key
Regional Servicers
MCLEAN, Va., July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As part of its
support for President Obama's Making Home Affordable program,
Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) today announced an agreement with Home
Retention Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart
Lender Services, Inc., to help several regional servicers process
thousands of additional applications for Home Affordable
Modifications.
Specifically, Home Retention Services will assess the
eligibility of delinquent borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned
mortgages for Home Affordable Modifications or other possible
workouts and process borrower financial information for the
servicers' review and approval.
"By using Home Retention Services' staff and resources we can
ease some of the pressures on our servicers' staff while helping
more borrowers pursue a mortgage workout," said Ingrid Beckles,
senior vice president of default asset management at Freddie Mac.
Today's announcement builds on Freddie Mac's strategy to improve
the borrower experience when seeking a mortgage workout and our
commitment to the Making Home Affordable program's success."
While the new initiative will supplement the capacity of
participating servicers to process loan modifications, Beckles
emphasized that "borrowers should continue to call their servicers
first to determine the best solution for their situation."
"We are pleased to be working with Freddie Mac and their
servicers to bring additional capacity to the Making Home
Affordable program process," said Jason Nadeau, president and CEO
of Stewart Lender Services. "Home Retention Services specializes in
supplementing servicers' efforts to preserve home ownership for
their borrowers," Nadeau added.
Potentially eligible borrowers identified by a participating
Freddie Mac servicer will receive a letter from Freddie Mac asking
them to call Home Retention Services using a proprietary toll-free
number. The letters will be specially formatted and include unique
borrower PIN numbers to protect borrowers from counterfeits
produced by fraud artists.
Home Retention Services will work with the borrower, assess
their eligibility for a Home Affordable Modification, complete the
documentation and income gathering processes, and advise the
borrower of their proposed modified payment.
Home Retention Services will forward the completed package to
the servicer for final approval. The borrower's Home Affordable
Modification trial period begins once the servicer approves the
modification and receives the borrower's check for the new monthly
mortgage amount.
Home Retention Services will also advise borrowers of other
Freddie Mac workout options if they don't qualify for Making Home
Affordable.
Using Home Retention Services to relieve servicers of several
preliminary workout processing steps builds on earlier Freddie Mac
borrower outreach initiatives. Freddie Mac has used the Consumer
Credit Counseling Services of Atlanta and San Francisco to contact
low-and moderate-income borrowers at high risk of default since
2005 and selected Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) to target
borrowers with delinquent high-risk mortgages in 2009.
Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide
liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential
mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the
nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years,
Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and
more than five million renters.
Home Retention Services, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Stewart Lender Services. Stewart Lender Services has been providing
lenders and loan servicers solutions for the past 14 years. Stewart
Lender Services provides a wide array of solutions including loss
mitigation services, loan modification qualification and
fulfillment, short sale solicitation and management, default and
foreclosure services, REO title/settlement and asset management
services, post-closing solutions, nationwide title and settlement
services and electronic mortgage solutions. Stewart Lender Services
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE: STC),
a customer-driven, technology-enabled, strategically competitive,
real estate information, title insurance and transaction management
company. More information can be found at
http://www.stewart.com.
SOURCE Freddie Mac
/CONTACT: Brad German, Freddie Mac, +1-703-903-2437
/Web site: http://www.freddiemac.com
