Most people not only are unfamiliar with Genworth Financial, they have never heard it. Yet they are well known in the mortgage business. This company provides mortgage insurance for those home buyers who make a down payment of less than 20% when they buy a home.

For those home buyers who make less than a 20% down payment, a mortgage insurance company actually insures the mortgage company. If a home buyer falls behind and cannot make their monthly loan payments, their mortgage insurance company steps in and reimburses the mortgage company for a portion of the money they have lost. The home buyer pays for this coverage provided by the mortgage insurance company with their monthly loan payment.

There are several different mortgage insurance companies that provide this coverage. Genworth Financial is one of these. Normally the mortgage company or the broker through whom the loan is obtained selects the provider of the mortgage insurance. In most instances the home buyer is never aware of which mortgage insurance company they have.

In normal times a mortgage insurance company accurately predicts how many foreclosures will occur. The premiums they collect are sufficient to cover the money they pay out. However at those times where there are a higher number of foreclosures than normal, these companies lose more money than they anticipated and they suffer financially.

Very early in this financial crisis which has gripped the United States, Genworth Financial realized that it would suffer financially because of the higher than expected number of cases where it would have to reimburse mortgage companies for losses when the people whom they insured would not be able to make their loan payments and were foreclosed. So they set up a unit in their company to help people facing foreclosure get loan modifications and save their homes.

The people working in this unit act as an intermediary between the person they insure who is facing foreclosure and their mortgage company. They explain to the people what information they need to supply as part of their application for a loan modification. Frequently they will help them obtain it.

In the year from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, Genworth helped 17,000 people obtain loan modifications and save their homes. Here are the results:

• $2.3 billion was saved.
• 86% of the people facing foreclosure got loan modifications which lowered their monthly payments. This enabled them to save their homes.
• An average savings of $136,000 was saved with each of these loan modifications.

Genworth estimates that in the third quarter of 2009 there were an additional 11,500 loans where people they insured fell behind on their monthly payments and faced foreclosure. They felt that they could help at least half of these get modifications and save their homes.

Right along the mortgage companies have been predicting that very few loan modifications would be successful and most people who got them would fall behind on their payments in the future and face foreclosure again. The result Genworth has seen on the work their unit has done has proved the companies wrong. They have shown that with the proper help high percentage of people facing foreclosure can turn things around and save their homes.