This story appeared in Bank Digest.
A Government Accountability Office report concludes that the Treasury Department could better analyze data to improve oversight of servicers' practices. The GAO report, mandated by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, examines: (1) the status of TARP-funded housing programs; (2) Treasury's efforts to monitor and evaluate HAMP denial and redefault rates among servicers; and (3) the status of the implementation of GAO's prior recommendations related to TARP-funded housing programs.
The report recommends that Treasury conduct periodic evaluations to help explain differences among MHA servicers: (1) in the reasons they gave for denying applications for HAMP trial modifications; and (2) in HAMP loan modification redefault rates. This would help inform compliance reviews of individual servicers and help identify any needed program policy changes.