Bank Owned Foreclosure Lists in Missouri Trimmed by Citi

The number of bank owned foreclosure homes in Missouri has been reduced by Citigroup as it continued to step up its efforts in implementing the Home Affordable Modification Program in the state.

According to Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citi, distressed homeowners in Missouri who have applied for loan modifications were able to obtain their desired modifications at a ratio of almost nine to one, a significant improvement from the ratio of 3.4 to one in the July to September quarter of 2008.

Pandit cited the loan achievements of Citigroup when he spoke at the Olin Business School of Washington University in Saint Louis about responsible refinancing. Pandit also met with local officials and nonprofit groups about foreclosure prevention programs that Citigroup can join or support. The CitiMortgage division of Citigroup in O’Fallon, Missouri manages $751 billion of home loans that it owns or services.

CitiMortgage, the servicing division of Citigroup, also reported that it has modified 33 percent of all its qualified home loans in Missouri as of September this year.

Nationwide, Citigroup officials claim they have helped over 715,000 distressed borrowers keep their homes from bank owned foreclosure lists since the start of the housing crisis in the early months of 2007. They said they carried out loan modifications on $79 billion worth of mortgage loans.

In addition to carrying out the federal modification program launched by the Obama administration, Citigroup said that it developed its own modification programs including its Homeowners Assistance Program and its Unemployment Assist Program. It also said that it continues to provide extensions, reinstatements and forbearances and it claims to have the highest proportion for loan modification among all mortgage servicers in the country, with 33 percent of qualified borrowers helped.

According to Citigroup officers, the bank also releases a detailed report of its foreclosure prevention efforts every quarter, describing its loan modification activities in 22 states. Citigroup officials have been proud to say that Citigroup is the only mortgage lender releasing a detailed quarterly report on its mortgage lending and servicing and its foreclosure prevention activities every quarter.

In Missouri, Citigroup has 5,800 employees and has been helping local nonprofits, providing over $1.2 million in grants in 2008.

In the July to September quarter, foreclosure filings continued to rise in Missouri compared to the previous quarter, with almost 8,000 foreclosure filings, including more than 3,000 units already in bank owned foreclosure listings.

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