Letter to the Editor: Nonprofit Loan Mod Resource Being Wasted

To the Editor:

In the Aug. 10 issue, "Putting Mods' Glacial Pace in Context" suggests that it is only reasonable that servicers take time to gather all of the relevant information for a mortgage modification before proceeding. We agree. We just wish that they did so on a broader scale.

That's why more than 1,700 nonprofit organizations around the country are working with struggling homeowners to gather the necessary paperwork, put it together in a package and present it to servicers who will consider a mortgage modification.

But what is disappointing to those of us in the nonprofit housing counseling sector is the fact that servicers frequently choose to do all of the work again.

This slows down the process, moves families closer and closer to foreclosure and does not take advantage of the efficiencies that are in the market today.

Nonprofit organizations that receive funding through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program are trained in the procedures for the Making Home Affordable Program and have received certification from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide homeownership counseling.

Nonprofit housing counselors are trained to help families attain sustainable homeownership, not short-term solutions that will ultimately lead to a redefault.

In addition we are working with the Hope Now Alliance to ensure that counseling organizations are appropriately compensated for the services they provide.

For the servicing industry not to take advantage of the diligent and comprehensive work of thousands of professionals in the nonprofit counseling industry is to do a disservice to them, the families at risk of foreclosure and the national effort to stabilize the nation's housing markets.