Major banks significantly increased their use of principal reduction loan modifications in 2012, according to new data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The eight banks and one thrift tracked by the OCC completed 126,283 principal reduction mods in 2012, up from 43,396 the previous year. Principal reduction was used on 20.0 percent of all loss mitigation actions taken by the firms in the fourth quarter, up from an 8.5 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2011. Mortgages in non-agency MBS ...