U.S. REPORTS FEWER ENROLLEES, MORE DROPOUTS FROM FEDERAL MORTGAGE RELIEF PROGRAM

The Obama administration's marquee foreclosure-prevention initiative continues to struggle, as government data released yesterday shows that fewer homeowners are enrolling in the program and more are losing their federal mortgage aid, the Washington Post reported today. Lenders enrolled homeowners into the mortgage relief effort, known as Making Home Affordable, at a slower pace last month after federal officials tightened the qualification process. Since the program's launch last year, nearly 340,000 homeowners have received a permanent loan modification that lowers their mortgage payment for five years. However, a growing number of borrowers are failing to move from the program's initial stage into a permanent loan modification. Lenders have said that many homeowners are failing to make the reduced loan payments and others have not been able to prove they qualify for mortgage assistance. The number of borrowers dropped from the program, about 436,000, eclipses those who have been helped, according to Treasury Department data. More than 100,000 borrowers lost their mortgage aid in May.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062104705_pf.html