The law has been in effect for less than a year. Big banks are slow beasts to change.
Why should they be “required” to review anything other than whether the owner is making payments? A loan mod should exist as an option only as a courtesy, and should only be used in cases of genuine hardship (illness, death/illness in the family, basically).
“Loss of home value due to market conditions” or even an episode of unemployment (you should have some savings) shouldn’t be enough reason for a modification. I know people like that — bought a house with cash back on closing, 0% down in 2007, house’s value went down 50%, lost their job (temporarily) and went whinging to the bank for a loan mod. Successfully.
Those kinds of people don’t deserve to “own” a home.
