Fannie and Freddie prevent more foreclosures

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its fourth quarter 2019 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 25,930 foreclosure prevention actions in the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing to 4.407 million the number of troubled homeowners who have been helped during the conservatorships of the Enterprises. The report also shows that nearly 40 percent of loan modifications completed in the fourth quarter reduced borrowers' monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The Enterprises' serious delinquency rate remained unchanged from the third quarter at 0.65 percent at the end of the fourth quarter. This compares with 3.47 percent for FHA loans, 1.92 percent for VA loans and 1.76 percent for all loans (industry average). The report also showed a jump in refinances from the third quarter of 540,578 to 728,842 in the fourth quarter.