Mortgage Industry Provided 420,000 Loan Mods in 2015

The mortgage industry provided about 420,000 loan modifications last year to homeowners struggling to make payments, according to Hope Now.

The industry provided a total of 1.45 million alternatives to foreclosure last year, Hope Now said. That figure includes loan modifications, as well as short sales, deeds-in-lieu and other types of workouts.

"Although permanent loan modifications were at a peak of 160,000 in June 2010, they remain around 30,000 a month and nearly 420,000 homeowners received a modification in 2015," Eric Selk, executive director of Hope Now, said in a news release.

Among the 420,000 loan modifications in 2015, about 28% were performed under the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program.

Both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosure sales declined from 2014 to 2015, with about 16% fewer foreclosure starts and about 25% fewer foreclosure sales.

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, various loan modification and workout programs have kept almost 25 million homeowners from foreclosure.