Which Lender is refinancing the most mortgages for distressed AZ homeowners?

JP Morgan Chase is leading the way in refinancing the most Arizona mortgages for distressed residential AZ homeowners since the beginning of the year. However, Chase's rate reduction averaged only 1.85% off the mortgage interest rate while the other banks averaged a 2.05% rate reduction. Arizona Mortgage Refinances Chase 57% Wells Fargo 30% Citibank 11% Bank of America 1.5% Ally Bank 1% Bank of America's performance in refinancing for distressed AZ homeowners is pitiful. HOwever, Bank of America is leading the way in creating efficient short sale procedures for distressed homeowners. The face of short sales is soon to change as the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 fades away on December 31, 2012. This act allowed many homeowners who conducted a short sale before 12/31/2012 to not have to pay taxes on their deficiencies. With no follow up governmental policies at this time, AZ homeowners may not feel the benefit of a short sale outweighs the benefit of a foreclosure. With the short sale, homeowners do need to prove a hardship so they do need to submit numerous documents to their lender and then moves out toward the end of the transaction. With a foreclosure, the homeowner just quietly moves out of the house with no additional effort needed. And with AZ being an anti-deficiency state, homeowners know their deficiency in a foreclosure is usually forgiven, but their taxes on a deficiency are not. Currently the number of foreclosures in AZ has declined. This is largely due to the number of homeowners choosing to do short sales versus a foreclosure. I do think we will see a turnaround in these numbers in the first quarter of 2013 unless congress steps in and creates more benefits for short sale sellers.