New Law Blogs

Earlier this month, we asked our readers to tell us if they'd been stuck in a trial modification in the government's foreclose prevention program for half a year or longer. Trial periods are designed to last only three months, after which mortgage servicers are supposed to either give homeowners a permanent mod or drop them from the program.

While homeowners in trial modifications have had the benefit of seeing their monthly payments drop (by an average of $522), there are adverse consequences when a trial drags on, not the least of which is the stress and fear of homeowners not knowing whether they'll be able to keep their homes.

Hundreds of readers wrote in. And the longest mod turned out to be just about the longest possible: Marlene Colon of Tinton Falls, N.J., and Deb Franklin of Airville, Pa. both first received trial mods starting in May, in the first few weeks of the program. That means they've been waiting nearly 10 months to find out whether they will be getting permanent modifications.

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