Chase: 138,000 mortgages modified in past 3 months

Chase said Tuesday it has approved 138,000 trial mortgage modifications for struggling homeowners in the past three months.

The company started processing the modifications April 6, as part of President Obama's Making Home Affordable program.

Of the mortgage modifications approved, Chase said 87,100 were through Making Home Affordable. The program seeks to reduce mortgage payments to 31 percent of income, usually by reducing the interest rate or extending the length of the loan.

Chase said it gave trial modifications to another 50,900 mortgages that didn't qualify for the federal program.

Both programs require the borrower to make three full, on-time modified payments for the modifications to become permanent.

Chase said 53,000 families that qualified for the programs have made their first modified payment. While encouraging, "we know it is extremely early in the program, so it is difficult to gauge its ultimate success," said Charlie Scharf, head of retail financial services at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The company also noted that many are likely still waiting to hear about modification applications.

"We also clearly understand that many more families are anxious about their homes and need to hear from us as quickly as possible," Scharf said in a release.

Since Jan. 1, Chase said it hired 2,000 additional mortgage operation workers and 950 loan counselors.

Chase services about 10.3 million loans, including about 8 million loans for investors.

Chase is the consumer and commercial banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co.