More Than 70,000 Wells Fargo Customers Helped Through National Mortgage Settlement Programs

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) reported today that between March 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2012 the company assisted more than 70,000 homeowners through expanded modifications, other customer relief options, and refinances under the National Mortgage Settlement. As a result, Wells Fargo has fulfilled an estimated 73.5 percent of its $4.3 billion national consumer relief and refinance commitment and remains on track to complete its entire commitment in the required time frames.

“Wells Fargo has continued to make steady progress toward the prompt completion of the commitments we made as part of the National Mortgage Settlement and to continue to address the needs of all of our customers who are facing financial challenges and those who are seeking to refinance,” said Michael DeVito, executive vice president for Default Mortgage Servicing at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “In total, as of the end of 2012 there were nearly 842,000 Wells Fargo customers in modifications started since January 2009 and during that time we assisted customers with more than 4.7 million refinances allowing them to take advantage of lower interest rates.”

“It’s clear that the expanded modification and refinance programs are providing meaningful relief and payment reductions for our customers,” added DeVito. “Those who have obtained a modification on their first-lien mortgage loan have reduced their monthly payments by an average of nearly 44 percent and, on average, borrowers who have refinanced have seen principal and interest payment lowered by approximately $420 per month.”

Details on the expanded modifications, other consumer relief options and refinances under the settlement were included in the latest scheduled report to the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight. The report to the monitor included national data, as well as a state-by-state breakdown of consumer relief and refinance activities.

The report released by the monitor can be viewed here. National consumer relief and refinance program totals appear in the table below:

Program	Customers Helped	Consumer Benefit 1
1 st and 2 nd lien trial and completed modifications	22,926 2	$1.7 billion in principal forgiveness 2
Short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure	19,238	$1.8 billion in write offs of indebtedness
Other consumer relief activity	5,918	$39 million in write offs of indebtedness
1 st lien refinances	22,143	$891 million in total interest savings ($5,128 in average annualinterest savings for each customer refinanced) 3
TOTAL	70,225
1 Dollar amounts include a portion of the gross consumer benefit provided and do not reflect the amount of credit toward Wells Fargo’s financial commitment. The credit applied to the commitment will be determined by a formula that takes into account the amounts here as well as other factors.   2 Includes completed 1 st lien modifications and completed 2 nd lien modifications from interim report to the OMSO, plus active trial modifications in place as of Dec. 31, 2012. Active trial modifications included are not directly comparable to trial modifications listed in the report to the OMSO.   3 Reflects $3.998 billion in UPB refinanced with an average note rate reduction of 2.84% resulting in total annual interest savings to customers of $114 million and $891 million in total interest savings to customers over the 7.85-year anticipated average life of the refinanced loans.

The geographic distribution of Wells Fargo’s consumer relief and refinance activities remains consistent with the distribution of its portfolio and also reflects the fact that the financial commitments under the settlement are focused on borrowers who are in a negative equity position.

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