Targeting Troubled Borrowers Where They Live: on the Web

By: AUSTIN KILGORE
July 9, 2009 12:17 PM CST

Freddie Mac, in its role as administrator of the federal government’s Making Home Affordable program, created a YouTube video advising home owners on the documents needed to effectively negotiate a mortgage modification.

In the two-minute video, Freddie Mac suggests borrowers prepare a variety of documents to make calls with mortgage modification agents more efficient, including:

- Most recent mortgage statement
- Pay stubs or other documents showing household’s monthly pre-tax income
- Most recent tax return
- Second loan or home equity line of credit statements
- Account balances and minimum monthly payments on credit cards, car loans, student loans or other debt
- A short, concise description of the financial hardship that is causing - or leading to - a mortgage delinquency

While Freddie’s video isn’t getting as many views as clips from Michael Jackson’s Tuesday afternoon memorial service, more than 500 people have viewed the English version, and the Spanish version has more than 100 views.

It’s just one of many approaches the industry is using to reach out to borrowers.

In the August edition of HousingWire, we’ll take a look a different loss mitigation techniques used to reach out to distressed borrowers, most notably, the literally thousands of field reps who physically go to borrowers’ homes to speak with them.

While the technique may seem like the tactics of a loan shark you’d see on “The Sopranos,” these days, lenders are focused on customer retention, especially for borrowers whose financial crisis can be resolved with a mortgage modification.

Write to Austin Kilgore.