In August 2013, Keep Your Home California released the first "Servicer Scorecard," which assesses every servicer that participates in the program on different performance levels, based on data from the prior month.  Since that first installment, we have put out a Scorecard each month, to help people better understand how their servicers are working with us.

We have seen a lot of progress in working with the servicers since that first Scorecard.  Most notably, the amount of funded transactions increased from 7,796 in July 2013 to 9,397 in July 2014, a 20% increase.  Consequently, the additional funded transactions have resulted in more dollars provided to struggling homeowners.  Keep Your Home California provided assistance totaling $28.6 million in July 2013 and $31.8 million in July 2014, an increase of over $3.7 million.

Servicers are also accepting assistance from Keep Your Home California at a higher rate.  In July 2013, participating servicers accepted funding for 69.75% of the households that qualified.  That rate was up to 74.81% in July 2014.  We have also seen a substantial increase in the amount of participating servicers in the last year.  In July 2013, there were 132 servicers participating with Keep Your Home California.  Today, that number is up to 194.

To summarize, more homeowners are receiving Keep Your Home California assistance because more servicers are participating in the program and those servicers are more likely to accept the funds.  We are pleased that we are able to share these results in an easy to use manner and will continue to release the Servicer Scorecard on a monthly basis so others can continue to track the progress.

If you would like more information on how the servicers have been working with Keep Your Home California, or if you would like to view the data for a particular servicer, please visit the Participating Servicers webpage.  Every Servicer Scorecard is posted there.

At Keep Your Home California, we have started receiving calls from homeowners who participated in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) more than five years ago and are now subject to gradual increases in their interest rate (aka "step-ups"). These step-ups will have an impact on the homeowners' monthly mortgage payments and some homeowners have expressed concern that they will not be able to keep up with their new payments.

The good news is that Keep Your Home California assistance can be provided to homeowners who will no longer be able to afford their monthly payments due to an increase. Of course, any homeowners that apply for the program must meet all eligibility requirements, including meeting area income limits and being able to demonstrate a financial hardship. Just like a decrease in income, an increase in the monthly payment also meets the Keep Your Home California hardship criteria. If you have received a notice from your mortgage servicer that your interest rate will step-up - and you will no longer be able to afford your monthly payment - you should call our toll-free phone number (888) 954-KEEP (5337) to see if you qualify for assistance.

If homeowners have questions about whether a modification is subject to an interest rate step-up, they should contact their servicer for more information about the terms of their loan. You can also get more information about HAMP at the Making Home Affordable website and learn about other options for helping you deal with an increased monthly payment by contacting the HOPE Hotline at (888) 995-HOPE (4673) or a HUD approved housing counseling agency.

In addition to the story for Carrie G, who was counseled by Tri-Valley Housing Opportunities Center, one of our partner HUD approved housing counseling agencies, we wanted to share a couple stories we have received from some of our partner agencies. All of our partner agencies have certified counselors who can help people apply for Keep Your Home California assistance. To get more information about the agencies who have partnered with us, please visit the Meet with a Counselor webpage.  

• Maru Cham, a counselor at Neighborhood House Association

Maru shared a story from a homeowner she helped, in the homeowner's words: ""I want to express my gratitude to KYHC for making it possible for my family to keep our home. We became first-time buyers eleven years ago after working hard for a long time. But in early 2012 I became severely ill, unable to work anymore, I underwent a major surgery. My husband had to resign from his well-paid job to take care of me and our kids. We were unable to pay our bills and mortgage for a long time. Both of us got new jobs, but were unable to bring our account current, and our combined income was not enough to keep up with the mortgage payments. We attempted to get help from our servicer for more than a year without success. Finally, we were counseled by NHA in September, 2013, and immediately started a modification process that resulted in a permanent modification using KYHC (MRAP) funds. We are immensely grateful for this mortgage assistance. Without it, we would not have been able to keep our home."

 

• Aileen Chau, a counselor with Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County

A homeowner I counseled was disabled for a while and recently lost his job. He started earning EDD benefits but could not keep up with his monthly commitments. I explained the KYHC UMA program and helped him apply for it. I also helped him get set up on an affordable credit card payment plan to pay down his debts faster. The homeowner now has relief from the stress on keeping up with his monthly commitments. He feels encouraged that he is getting help with his monthly mortgage payment, while trying to recover his health and look for a job.