50% of loan modifications fail within 3 mos.

Foreclosure Mitigation Makes Little Headway Wall Street Journal (12/23/08) P. A4
Holzer, JessicaA joint Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision report, based on data from nine national banks and five thrifts, shows a 2.6-percent drop in newly initiated foreclosures to 281,298 in the third quarter from the prior three-month period. Beefed up modification efforts by servicers and foreclosure moratoriums in several states are responsible for the slight decline. However, the report also shows an 11-percent jump in loans in the foreclosure process to 617,642 and an 8-percent gain in completed foreclosures to 127,738 over the same period. Additionally, it reveals deteriorating credit quality among all types of mortgages and a more than 50-percent redefault rate for modifications undertaken in the first quarter.