It is surprising that an exchange between HUD Secretary Donovan and NY Senator Schumer at the Senate Banking Committee hearing earlier this week has NOT received more media attention.
At 1:50:31 into the video
HERE HUD Secretary Donovan relates to Senator Schumer that Chase CEO Dimond told him that, using the loan modification component of the President's HARP plan, "
they [CHASE] think they can do a million loans". (Use slider at bottom of video to get to this point in the hearing, click "show transcript" and you will see to the right the written transcript of that point in the video).
Schumer goes on to make the general point that he believes that the HARP program has broader appeal to lenders and servicers than many anticipate, and that if this is accurate, the President's HARP plan will help stabilize real estate markets quicker than many expect.
To date, I have found only ONE news story, from
Financial Times, HERE that reports anything related to this Senate testimony.
My expectation is that servicers have been holding off loan modifications in anticipation of the March 4th program guideline announcement. Shortly afterwards, one or more of the servicers will be motivated to announce that a significant number of loan modification letters have been sent to borrowers to verify income and request other information necessary for processing, and that loan modification offers will follow the receipt and analysis of responses from borrowers.
