Paul Kiel at ProPublica reports: Chase and Other Servicers Leave Many in Loan Mod Limbo; Treasury Threatens Penalties About 97,000 homeowners in the government’s mortgage modification program have been stuck in a trial period for over six months. Most of them, about 60,000, have their mortgages with a single mortgage servicer, JPMorgan Chase. Trial periods are designed to last only three months, after which mortgage servicers are supposed to either give homeowners a permanent modification or drop them from the program. According to a ProPublica analysis, about 475,000 homeowners have been in a trial modification for longer than three months. Paul Kiel has much more. A couple of key points on HAMP I’ve mentioned before: When the HAMP program began, the requirements for putting a borrower in a trial program varied by servicer. Some servicers put anyone who answered the phone, and said they’d make a payment, in to a trial program. Other servicers required homeowners to provide some initial documentation of income, and make the first payment, before putting them in a trial program. Although the HAMP trial program was supposed to last 3 months, the period was extended to 5 months – and then eventually to the end of January (no matter when the trial started). The January guidance from Treasury addressed both of the above points.

Read more here – 97,000 Homeowners in "Loan Mod Limbo"