By: Leslie Black-Plumeau

January 9, 2012

A recent report shows that homeowners who received foreclosure mitigation counseling were nearly twice as likely to obtain a mortgage modification and at least 67 percent more likely to remain current on their mortgage nine months after receiving one. This not only helped stabilize the homeowners who would have otherwise lost their home, but also saved servicers considerable time and expense.

The report published by NeighborWorks America was prepared by the Urban Institute and specifically studied the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program. The data compares the results against homeowners who obtained a mortgage modification without the assistance of an NFMC foreclosure prevention counselor. The report also showed that homeowners received, on average, a mortgage modification that lowered their payment by $176 more per month, than homeowners who didn’t work with an NFMC counselor – a savings of close to $2,100 a year.

Read the report.