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The US Treasury Department issued a statement recently that should give Tampa Florida Home Loan Modification applicants a true feeling of Hope.

According to the news from the Treasury Department, Tampa mortgage loan servicers as well as those in other parts of the nation are being encouraged to increase the pace at which they are negotiating home loan modifications with their clients.  This latest pressure move comes from the White Hose Administration as part of Obama’s Foreclosure Prevention program.

How Much is the Treasury Department Pushing Mortgage Servicers to Offer Home Loan Modifications?

Plenty.  In fact, Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner would like to see the current total of mortgage loan modification applications in process move up from 200,000 to as many as 500,000 by the 1st of November 2009.

In fact, as  many as 25 home loan servicer execs were called in to discuss the matter with Washington last week to talk about giving Obama’s new Foreclosure Protection plan a shot in the arm.

So, What’s Prompting Obama’s Added Pressure on Loan Companies?

Simple.  You are.  Well, you and other Tampa mortgage loan customers who are feeling the pinch from rising bills and mortgage costs and are seeking a responsible way to get things back in line.  The biggest complaint today is that folks here in the Tampa area and abroad are receiving limited to no response from their mortgage companies and loan servicers when they call them about loan modifications.

Those companies who are answering phones and emails are sometimes then falling short by losing paperwork or being slow to make decisions on final loan modification arrangements.

In a July 28, 2009 HUD Press Release, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner put it this way:

With over 200,000 trial loan modifications already under way, we are on track to meet our goals.   Still, too many homeowners are at risk of foreclosure right now. Today’s meeting was an opportunity to identify ways to accelerate the program and bring relief faster.

To date, the government has put some $20 billion into this home loan modification effort, and has committed to a total of $75 billion.

The thing is, most Tampa Home Loan servicers willing to enter into mortgage modification agreements are simply too short staffed to be very effective at it.  This needs to change – and is causing a lot of frustration among current Tampa area mortgage customers who want to get their lives back on track.

Obama seems to see the struggle for mortgage loan servicers to keep pace with rising unemployment and foreclosure rates as a key issue.  In fact, he stated as much recently as he said that:

Our mortgage program has actually helped to modify mortgages for a lot of our people, but it hasn’t been keeping pace with all the foreclosures that are taking place.

My take is that these mortgage companies need to hire more staff.  Or, work very hard to streamline and make more effective the process by which Tampa, Florida residents enter into home loan modification programs. In addition, more specific parameters should be put into place, just as with any other inbound call center and processing business.

I imagine GEICO and Progressive have managed to put measurement systems in place to keep inbound sales calls rolling, right?

The Big Banks like Citigroup, Bank of America, and Chase need to focus on putting into place some stricter performance measures including  limited hard copy paper shuffling with a move toward more e-documents and lower mortgage borrower call wait times.

The Good News here is that the Administration does seem to be willing to put these landers’ feet to the fire.

We should see the first official mortgage lender progress reports hit the wire sometime very soon – maybe as early as tomorrow – August 4th.

I like the fact that the performance stats for Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America will be out there for us to see.  Maybe then we’ll see who is and is not doing their part of help get us out of this mess.

Are You a Tampa Mortgage Loan Borrower finding it hard to contact and work with your home loan servicer?  Have you found them reluctant to move forward with your home loan modification efforts?

If so, leave a comment here and share your story.  And hey – good news is great, too!  Had a good experience recently with your Tampa home loan modification?  Drop a line.  We can always use a bit of Florida Sunshine!