Dual tracking, the process of launching a foreclosure while a borrower is still pursuing a loan modification, is down by almost half in California, according to law University of California Irvine professor Katherine Porter, who serves as a monitor for the national mortgage servicing settlement in the Golden State.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris appointed Porter to ensure compliance in California with national servicing guidelines set out by prudential regulators and AGs when the nation's five largest servicers entered into a settlement over foreclosure and robo-signing issues. The guidelines forbid dual tracking.
Joseph Smith, the monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, said the grace period for the nation's largest lenders to become compliant with his office's 304 mortgage servicing standards, is now ended.
Cutting down on dual tracking was a major goal of the settlement and consent orders.
Today, Porter suggests the monitor and settlement's efforts are working.
The number of dual tracking complaints in California rose to 59 in August and then plummeted to 29 in September as the monitor started eyeing compliance metrics.
The California Monitor Program, which Porter runs, has sent out more than 1,753 letters and other communications to borrowers who have requested help. To date, they've closed 373 cases.
In just the past seven months, 1,482 homeowners sent complaints, and 224 of those were about dual tracking foreclosures and loan modifications.
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